11 – Breaking News & Latest Updates 2026
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The fandomization of news

Younger generations expect news to come straight from creators. But when creators are wrong, the news ecosystem quickly breaks down.

Kate Lindsay
Richard Lawler
Richard Lawler
This year’s Meta Connect will be a two-day event, in-person at Meta HQ.

We’ve known the date for Meta’s next developer event since the company revealed the details of its Quest 3 headset, and now there’s more information available.

The two full days of programming will include a Keynote hosted by Mark Zuckerberg, the Developer State of the Union, and breakout sessions covering a range of topics related to AI and virtual, mixed, and augmented reality. Those who attend in person will also have access to demo experiences, networking events, and more.

Jay Peters
Jay Peters
Meta’s new Threads update promises new features, but doesn’t say what they are.

“You asked, we answered,” Meta wrote in the notes for an iOS update released on Monday. “New features coming, so keep an eye out as you browse the latest version of the app.”

I don’t see any obvious differences in my updated version of the app. But Instagram boss Adam Mosseri teased a “following” feed in a video, so hopefully that’s coming soon. (Meta, I’m also begging you for a way to look at my feeds on the web.)

A screenshot of the latest Threads update note. The update note says: “You asked, we answered. New features coming, so keep an eye out as you browse the latest version of the app.”
Screenshot by Jay Peters / The Verge
Mia Sato
Mia Sato
Instagram subscriptions are coming to more regions.

Creators in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Spain and the UK will soon be able to make money through Instagram subscriptions.

Other platforms like TikTok have also introduced ways for creators to charge fans for exclusive content as creator fund money dries up.

Jay Peters
Jay Peters
Mark Zuckerberg says that tens of millions of people are returning to Threads every day.

That’s “way ahead” of what the company expected, he said on Threads. As for what’s coming next, the company is working on “improving the basics and retention” this year, and then “we’ll focus on growing the community.”

Threads surpassed 100 million users just days after it launched this month.

Jay Peters
Jay Peters
You might see more rate limits on Threads.

That’s because of an increase in “spam attacks,” according to Instagram head Adam Mosseri. I’m guessing these limits won’t affect too many people, though — unlike Twitter’s rate limits.

Elizabeth Lopatto
Elizabeth Lopatto
What if the next big social media app... is nothing?

Enjoyed this Bloomberg story about the possibility that we are all old and tired, sick of seeing each other’s bad posts, and hoping to touch grass:

In 2022, according to GWI’s latest report, daily time spent [online] fell by 13 minutes. It’s now six hours and 43 minutes a day, slightly lower than it was in 2017. The drop was the biggest since the company started tracking the topic and suggested, as GWI’s report put it, “that we’ve reached a kind of internet saturation point.”

I guess I’m not the only one who’s been seasoning their cast iron!

Nilay Patel
Nilay Patel
Threads will (obviously) come to the web, says Adam Mosseri.

Mosseri ran through the now familiar list of upcoming Threads features (edit button, following feed) in his weekly video, but added “web presence” to the list, which, well obviously that’s coming. But hey, here’s a prompt: fascinating that after all these attempts to run mobile apps on laptops that “web version” is 100 percent synonymous with “desktop,” right?

Jay Peters
Jay Peters
Easily make threads in Threads with three taps.

As shown by Instagram boss Adam Mosseri in a 💎 Hidden Gems 💎 thread (I’m just bringing over his emoji usage here), if you tap return three times in a row while composing a Threads post, you can make another post in the thread. I think it’s a really clever feature, and it’s one of my favorite features of the app.

He’s got a few other handy tricks in the full thread, though you can also see them all on video on his Instagram page.

A screenshot of Jay Peters’ Threads account making two Threads posts on an iPhone.
Does anyone have a better username idea for me? Many expected variations of my name are taken or unavailable. This one is silly but I’m guessing I’ll be tired of it in a month or two.
Screenshot by Jay Peters / The Verge
Emma Roth
Emma Roth
Threads was the top free iPhone app last week.

According to Apple’s weekly app rankings, Threads was the most popular free app for the week ending July 9th. That’s not all too surprising, given that Threads has already garnered over 100 million users since launching last week.

Threads was the number one free app last week, followed by Temu and Remini.
Threads was the number one free app last week, followed by Temu and Remini.
Sceenshot: Andrew Webster / The Verge
Jay Peters
Jay Peters
The Threads team will be shipping improvements “this week,” Instagram head Adam Mosseri says.

He didn’t say specifically what features you can expect imminently, but the team is working on things like “a following feed, the edit button, and post search.”

An edit button you can use for free. Imagine that!

Mia Sato
Mia Sato
More ways to post at the post factory.

Instagram is reportedly developing a way for users to add story highlights to posts, per app researcher Alessandro Paluzzi.

Highlights, the pinned collections of Stories, are a way to organize posts around a certain topic — but can get lost in shuffle once they’re saved. There’s also no quick way to reshare highlights right now.

Jay Peters
Jay Peters
Here’s how your Threads feed works right now.

According to the @threadsapp account, you’ll see both people you follow and accounts the platform recommends to you. Changes are coming down the line: recommendations will be “more personalized” and yes, the Threads team is working on a chronological feed. Search will get better, too.

Jay Peters
Jay Peters
Meta’s CTO is doing an AMA later today.

Andrew Bosworth, aka Boz, is hosting an AMA session at 7PM ET / 4PM PT. I’m not quite sure if it’s happening on Threads or on Instagram — seems like Instagram? — but given that Threads has become an early hit, I’m guessing he’ll have some interesting things to say no matter where he’s actually going to be answering questions.

Jay Peters
Jay Peters
Apple’s Phil Schiller is on Threads.

9to5Mac confirmed with Schiller himself that @philipschiller007 is indeed his real account, and he’s already made a few posts on the platform. Apple Music, Apple News, Apple Books, Shazam, and Beats are on Meta’s new social network, too, though Beats is the only one that’s posted anything.

Still, it’s interesting that Apple has its eyes on Threads at all, especially given that Meta and Apple are about to go head-to-head in virtual reality. (Full disclosure: I stole this joke from Nilay.)

I wonder if Tim Cook will eventually join. He posts every once in a while on Twitter, and apparently told Elon Musk last year that Apple “never considered” removing Twitter — will Cook make the move to Threads?

Wes Davis
Wes Davis
Instagram Threads bosses Mark Zuckerberg and Adam Mosseri are just beside themselves.

The two posted on Threads today, with Zuckerberg posting that the march to 100 million users of the new Twitter clone over the last five days has been mostly organic.

Mosseri, who heads up Instagram, said in a post he can’t wrap his mind around the platform’s early success. Mosseri has previously said that ads are an eventual “champagne problem.” One wonders if the company might not be ready to pop the cork sooner than expected.

Instagram’s Threads surpasses 100 million usersInstagram’s Threads surpasses 100 million users
Jay Peters and Jon Porter
David Pierce
David Pierce
What’s next for Threads after being the fastest-growing app ever?

That was the subject of almost all of The Vergecast this week – we talked about how Threads came to be, why it launched so quickly, what to call the things you post on Threads, ActivityPub, and much more. All our numbers are already out of date, because wow is this app growing fast, but the rest I think holds up!

Wes Davis
Wes Davis
Meanwhile, on Threads.

Threads has quickly blown past the other Twitter alternatives in terms of registered accounts. The highest account number badge I’ve seen on Instagram so far this morning puts its count at over 86 million.

At the current pace, it’s likely Threads will hit 100 million today.

A screenshot of Wendy’s tagging Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and saying he should go to space just to make “him” mad. Zuckerberg responds with a laughing emoji.
Zuck engages the brands.
Screenshot: Richard Lawler / The Verge
Jay Peters
Jay Peters
Another useful Live Activity.

9to5Mac reports that Instagram is testing a way to use Apple’s more powerful Live Activity notifications to show the progress of your uploads in the background. Seems really handy — I hope Instagram rolls this out more broadly.

Jay Peters
Jay Peters
Here’s some data about Threads downloads geographically.

Sensor Tower has segmented the data geographically, stating that India (22%), Brazil (16%), and the U.S. (14%) had the most downloads on day one. Twenty-five percent of downloads were on iOS, with the remaining on Android.

It’s not official data from Meta itself, but still gives an idea of the popularity of the app. This morning, CEO Mark Zuckerberg confirmed that the app had crossed 70 million signups.

Elizabeth Lopatto
Elizabeth Lopatto
I have no idea if Ryan Broderick’s read on the inner workings of threads is accurate but I lol’d all the same.

Broderick didn’t follow anyone and bathed in the algorithm instead:

My verdict: Threads sucks shit. It has no purpose. It is for no one. It launched as a content graveyard and will assuredly only become more of one over time. It’s iFunny for people who miss The Ellen Show. It has a distinct celebrities-making-videos-during-COVID-lockdown vibe. It feels like a 90s-themed office party organized by a human resources department. And my theory, after staring into its dark heart for several days, is that it was never meant to “beat” Twitter — regardless of what Zuckerberg has been tweeting. Threads’ true purpose was to act as a fresh coat of paint for Instagram’s code in the hopes it might make the network relevant again.

Richard Lawler
Richard Lawler
The Elon Musk private jet tracker was on Threads, but not anymore.

Jack Sweeney made his @ElonMusksJet account one of the first 70 million or so on Threads and spoke to Insider about it yesterday. Last fall Musk claimed he was providing “basically assassination coordinates” and banned his Twitter account until it added a 24-hour delay.

However, sometime recently, the account was suspended on both Instagram (where it had been active for months) and Threads. We’ve contacted Meta to find out more details.

The account remains active on Facebook, BlueSky, Mastodon, Telegram, Nostr, and TruthSocial.

Correction: The account is from Jack Sweeney, not Jack Smith.