People use social media in different ways. Some use it to create content and find their audience. Others use it to connect with friends and therefore, they might not want a public account.
Whether you want to use Threads to grow your audience, or you just want to use it to speak with friends, you have the same right as every other user. You have the right to use the platform how you choose to. Of course, providing you’re not harming others.
Some choose to have a private account because they want to be selective with who can see what they share online. They may only want to share their updates and opinions to their friends. By following less, you tend to only see content relevant to you.
Please be aware, any account owned by someone under the age of 18 will automatically be placed onto private. This is due to them being minors and therefore needing protection. You can however change your privacy settings.
How to make your Threads account private
From a desktop:
- Click
in the bottom left, then click Settings.
- Click Privacy at the top.
- Click
next to Private profile to make your profile public or click
to make your profile private.
- Click OK to confirm.
From a mobile:
- Tap
or your profile picture in the bottom right to go to your profile.
- Tap
in the top right.
- Tap
Privacy.
- Tap
- Tap OK to confirm
Please note: The information above has been copied directly from Instagram’s Help Center.
Some users share their content to the fediverse. For those who do, turning your Threads account onto private will automatically cut off the sharing of content from your profile to the fediverse. You will need to turn this option back on if you change your account back to public.
Threads will also request all your information is deleted from the fediverse servers too, including your profile. However, they cannot guarantee all data from your account will be wiped from the servers completely, so never share anything you might want to remove.
Remember, once it’s online, it never truly goes away. You can delete things, but there’s always a web trail, so be mindful about what information you share. If you turn your account back to public, you’ll have to wait 30 days to access the fediverse again.
