Threads app signs up 100m users in less than a week

Threads, the social media app aimed at rivalling Twitter, has signed up more than 100 million users in less than five days, according to new data.

It means Threads, launched by Instagram-owner Meta, has beat a record set by Open AI's ChatGPT app.

Threads went live on Apple and Android app stores in 100 countries last Wednesday.

It not available in Europe due to the EU's data privacy legislation.

Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive of Meta, which also owns Facebook, said the app had 10 million users within the first seven hours of launch and more than 30 million by Thursday morning.

Around 24 hours later, that figure had more than doubled.

At 100 million, according to figures from data platform Quiver Quantitative, Threads' base stands at less than a third of the 350 million regular users that Twitter is believed to have.

Some Twitter users have become disenchanted since billionaire Elon Musk took over. Thousands of jobs have been cut under his ownership and he has announced a number of changes to help generate revenue at Twitter.

Other rivals have emerged like Mastodon and Bluesky but have struggled without an existing user base. Threads has capitalised on being linked to Instagram which has more than one billion accounts.