<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="462" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Meta-launches-Instagram-Threads-in-a-direct-challenge-to-Twitter-820x462.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-426030" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Meta-launches-Instagram-Threads-in-a-direct-challenge-to-Twitter-820x462.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Meta-launches-Instagram-Threads-in-a-direct-challenge-to-Twitter-300x169.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Meta-launches-Instagram-Threads-in-a-direct-challenge-to-Twitter-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Meta-launches-Instagram-Threads-in-a-direct-challenge-to-Twitter-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Meta-launches-Instagram-Threads-in-a-direct-challenge-to-Twitter.jpg 929w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Tech titans Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk are in a fierce business rivalry that has spilt over into a playground spat, with the two men offering to fight each other in a cage. Mandel Ngan | AFP | Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



Meta has officially debuted its Twitter-like messaging app Threads, which the company is pitching as Instagram’s “text-based conversation app.”



Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s CEO and co-founder, announced the debut of Threads on Wednesday, marking the official release of the social networking giant’s new text-focused messaging app. Threads represents Meta’s attempt to capture the wave of users who have left Twitter amid the often unpredictable ownership of Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.



The Threads app is now available to download for free on the Apple App Store and Google Play online store in over 100 countries, Meta said in a blog post. Threads shares Twitter’s visual aesthetic as a text-based social messaging app in which users can post short messages that others can like, share, and comment upon, according to screenshots of Threads that are available on Apple’s App Store.



People will be able to follow the same Threads accounts that they follow on Instagram and reply to other public posts in a way akin to how people use Twitter.



Zuckerberg said Threads had crossed 5 million sign ups within the first four hours.



The official release comes after Instagram released on Monday a pre-order for Threads on the Apple App Store, which said that at the time that the app was expected to debut on July 6. Many Instagram users were also recently able to obtain invitations to access Threads from within their Instagram accounts.



Although Threads is linked to Instagram, with users able to use their existing Instagram usernames, the messaging service is a separate app that people will need to download.



“Threads is where communities come together to discuss everything from the topics you care about today to what’ll be trending tomorrow,” Instagram said in a description of Threads on the Apple App Store. “Whatever it is you’re interested in, you can follow and connect directly with your favorite creators and others who love the same things — or build a loyal following of your own to share your ideas, opinions and creativity with the world.”



Meta said in the blog post that people’s individual feeds on the new messaging app will include “threads” that were posted by other users that they follow, in addition to recommended content shared from creators who users may not know.



People will be able to publish Threads posts that are up to 500 characters long, and while the app is geared toward text, people will also be able so share links, photos and videos that can be as long as 5 minutes. Instagram users will also be able to share their Threads posts via the app’s story feature in addition to “any other platform you choose,” the blog post said.



Meta said that it developed Threads “with tools to enable positive, productive conversations,” and people will be able to manage who is mentioning or is replying to them within the app.



“Like on Instagram, you can add hidden words to filter out replies to your threads that contain specific words,” the blog post said. “You can unfollow, block, restrict or report a profile on Threads by tapping the three-dot menu, and any accounts you’ve blocked on Instagram will automatically be blocked on Threads.”



Racing into the gap as Twitter implodes



The release of Threads comes as Twitter has suffered a wave of mishaps under the ownership of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, leaving the popular social messaging app vulnerable to competing apps.



Most recently, Musk said that Twitter users will only be able to see a certain number of Tweets per day in an attempt to deal with “extreme levels of data scraping” and “system manipulation” on the messaging service.



Numerous Twitter users publicly complained about Musk imposing a temporary so-called “rate limit” on Twitter, saying that the Tweet limits make the app a less engaging experience.



BlueSky, a rival social messaging app that is backed by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, said that it recorded “record-high traffic” after Musk announced the Twitter rate limit, and it temporarily paused sign-ups to deal with the influx of new users, who must currently be invited to use the app.



Like BlueSky, Threads will use decentralized technology that theoretically lets users control and manage their data across other apps that incorporate the same underlying software.



Whereas BlueSky is built on the decentralized networking technology dubbed the AT Protocol, Threads will eventually incorporate another decentralized technology called ActivityPub, Instagram head Adam Mosseri said in a Threads post on Wednesday that was briefly available to the public. The ActivityPub software also powers another Twitter-like messaging app called Mastadon, which has also experienced an influx of new users seeking an alternative to Twitter.



Mosseri said that his team wasn’t able to include support for ActivityPub in time for Threads’ official release because of “a number of complications that come along with a decentralized network.” But he reiterated that support is coming.



“If you’re wondering why this matters, here’s a reason: you may one day end up leaving Threads, or, hopefully not, end up de-platformed,” Mosseri said. “If that ever happens, you should be able to take your audience with you to another server. Being open can enable that.”



Meta added in its blog post that ActivityPub will enable people without Threads accounts to view Threads and interact with Threads users who have public profiles via other social apps that incorporate the same decentralized technology.



“If you have a public profile on Threads, this means your posts would be accessible from other apps, allowing you to reach new people with no added effort,” Meta said in the blog post. “If you have a private profile, you’d be able to approve users on Threads who want to follow you and interact with your content, similar to your experience on Instagram.”



Meta said that Threads is the company’s first app “envisioned to be compatible with an open social networking protocol,” which it believes could usher “in a new era of diverse and interconnected networks.”



In 2019, Meta, then known as Facebook, debuted a messaging app for Instagram users that was also called Threads. Unlike the current iteration of Threads that caters to text-based messages, the previous Threads app was instead centered around people sending short video and photo messages to their friends like they were using Snapchat.



Meta eventually shuttered Threads in 2021, and redirected people to use Instagram to see all their previous Threads messages.

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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/107254748-1686530516805-gettyimages-1258607049-AFP_33J46HD-820x547.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-425995" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/107254748-1686530516805-gettyimages-1258607049-AFP_33J46HD-820x547.jpeg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/107254748-1686530516805-gettyimages-1258607049-AFP_33J46HD-300x200.jpeg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/107254748-1686530516805-gettyimages-1258607049-AFP_33J46HD-135x90.jpeg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/107254748-1686530516805-gettyimages-1258607049-AFP_33J46HD-768x512.jpeg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/107254748-1686530516805-gettyimages-1258607049-AFP_33J46HD-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/107254748-1686530516805-gettyimages-1258607049-AFP_33J46HD-scaled.jpeg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Saudi Minister of Energy Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman al-Saud speaks during a panel discussion at the 10th Arab-China Business Conference in Riyadh, on June 11, 2023. Fayez Nureldine | Afp | Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



The latest round of voluntary crude oil output cuts evidence the cooperation between heavyweight producers and allies Russia and Saudi Arabia, the kingdom’s Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said on Wednesday.



On Monday, Saudi Arabia said it would extend the 1-million-barrel-per-day production cut it had initially flagged for July into August, while Russia announced a 500,000 barrel-per-day decline in exports next month.



This adds to the just over 1.66 million-barrels-per-day of voluntary drops that some members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies — known as OPEC+ — had first declared in April, then agreed to stretch until the end of 2024 during the coalition’s ministerial meeting of June.



Unlike alliance-wide OPEC+ policy decisions, voluntary production declines do not require unanimous approval and need not be implemented by all group members.



Addressing the latest Riyadh-Moscow drops agreed for August at an OPEC+ seminar in Vienna Wednesday, Prince Abdulaziz said: “In the last move this week, yes, we are all continuing with our voluntary cut, but again, part of what we have had done with our colleagues from Russia was also to mitigate the cynical side of spectators about what was going on with Saudi Arabia and Russia.”



Some questions had surfaced over the extent to which Russia will be honoring its voluntary crude production decline pledges, given ongoing opacity over its refinery consumption and seaborne exports — which are no longer accepted in Europe since December and have been rerouted to Asia. The Russian administration has suspended publishing official statistics for oil, natural gas and gas condensate production until April 2024, according to Russian state news agency Tass.



Implementing a cut on exports, rather than on output, will allow market participants who rely on independent third-party tracking data to verify the extent to which Russia stands by its commitments.



“It was a voluntary cut that was not imposed on them … including delivering, that they will do it from their exports, because it is more meaningful,” Abdulaziz said Wednesday.



In a previous June interview with CNBC’s Dan Murphy, the Saudi energy minister had said that OPEC+ can “absolutely” trust Russia.



“But I always like [the] President [Ronald] Reagan line, ‘Trust but verify,’” he said at the time, stressing the instrumental role of independent sources in assessing production. The OPEC+ group takes guidance from seven independent so-called secondary sources, when investigating the compliance of individual country members with their output commitments.



An OPEC+ delegate, who could only speak on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the discussions, told CNBC that OPEC+ relations between Moscow and Riyadh appeared good.



Brent prices have so far lingered just above the $75 per barrel threshold, drawing scant support from the voluntary decline announcements, amid a broader focus on demand and macroeconomic concerns over a potential global recession. Brent futures with September expiry were trading at $76.06 per barrel at 12:57 p.m. Vienna time, down 19 cents per barrel from the previous settlement price.



Abdulaziz stressed the producers’ alliance will continue to closely support the market.



“I will tweak what [former European Central Bank President Mario] Draghi was saying, we will do whatever is necessary. Not whatever it takes, whatever is necessary,” he said Wednesday.

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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/107140189-16667014702022-10-23t070716z_5164924_rc2s6x9f6dpf_rtrmadp_0_china-congress-leadership-820x547.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-425963" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/107140189-16667014702022-10-23t070716z_5164924_rc2s6x9f6dpf_rtrmadp_0_china-congress-leadership-820x547.jpeg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/107140189-16667014702022-10-23t070716z_5164924_rc2s6x9f6dpf_rtrmadp_0_china-congress-leadership-300x200.jpeg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/107140189-16667014702022-10-23t070716z_5164924_rc2s6x9f6dpf_rtrmadp_0_china-congress-leadership-135x90.jpeg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/107140189-16667014702022-10-23t070716z_5164924_rc2s6x9f6dpf_rtrmadp_0_china-congress-leadership-768x512.jpeg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/107140189-16667014702022-10-23t070716z_5164924_rc2s6x9f6dpf_rtrmadp_0_china-congress-leadership-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/107140189-16667014702022-10-23t070716z_5164924_rc2s6x9f6dpf_rtrmadp_0_china-congress-leadership.jpeg 1905w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Chinese President Xi Jinping waves after his speech as the new Politburo Standing Committee members meet the media following the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China October 23, 2022. Tingshu Wang | Reuters</figcaption></figure>



BEIJING — Chinese President Xi Jinping said Tuesday that Beijing opposes “decoupling and breaking links,” according to a CNBC translation of a Chinese-language state media readout.



Promoting economic growth is the shared responsibility of countries in the region, Xi said, per the report of his remarks at a virtual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.



The SCO is a political, security and trade alliance whose members are China, India, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Iran, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The group also has “observer states” and “dialogue partners,” which Saudi Arabia was promoted to in March.



China is willing to work with all parties to implement the Global Development Initiative, and make the “cake” bigger so that people in different countries can benefit, the state media report of Xi’s remarks said. Xi proposed the Global Development Initiative to the United Nations in 2021. It claims to include efforts to support U.N. goals for sustainable development.



The country opposes protectionism, unilateral sanctions and generalizing the concept of national security, the report also said Tuesday.



Xi’s remarks come ahead of U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s scheduled visit to China this coming Thursday to Sunday. Yellen’s visit follows U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s high-stakes trip to Beijing last month.



Tensions between the U.S. and China, the world’s two largest economies, have escalated in recent years. Recent measures by both governments have centered on technology.



China’s Ministry of Commerce said late Monday it is restricting the exports of two metals used for semiconductor manufacturing.



The U.S. announced export controls in October that sought to limit China’s development of advanced semiconductors.

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Generative artificial intelligence is all the rage now but the A.I. boom is not just all hype, said Dan Ives from Wedbush&nbsp;Securities, who calls it the “fourth industrial revolution playing out.”



“This is something I call a 1995 moment, parallel with the internet. I do not believe that this is a hype cycle,” the managing director and senior equity research analyst told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Wednesday.



The fourth industrial revolution refers to how technological advancements like artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles and the internet of things are changing the way humans live, work and relate to one another.



“I think this is really transformational changes to technology that I think would change the tech space for the next 20-30 years,” said Ives. “I think we are just starting what we believe is the start of a new tech bull market, despite many of the bears continuing to really being skeptical.”



Adoption of A.I. technology surged after ChatGPT — OpenAI’s viral chatbot — went viral due to its ability to generate humanlike responses to users’ prompts, which amazed researchers and the general public.



“I think it really comes down to the guidance heard around the world with Nvidia’s $4 billion guidance range.&nbsp;I think that’s the tip of the iceberg,” he said.



U.S. chip maker Nvidia produces graphics chips for gaming and A.I. Those chips help drive the technology behind ChatGPT and Alphabet’s Bard chatbots.



Nvidia said it expects sales of about $11 billion in the second quarter — more than 50% higher than Wall Street’s $7.15 billion estimate, which Ives called a “jaw dropping guidance.”



Nvidia stunned investors and analysts by reporting better-than-expected first-quarter profit of more than $2 billion and revenue of $7 billion in May.



“We’re going to have a trillion dollars of incremental spend over the next decade. That could be conservative — that wasn’t here six months ago,” said Ives.



″That’s why I think what you’re seeing is the multiple expansion. Investors recognize this isn’t an A.I. gold rush, which I really view is something. The only parallel would be 1995 Internet and 2007 Apple iPhone moments in terms of what I’ve seen in my career,” said the analyst.

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