Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg made bold claims about his new platform, "Threads," surpassing the Twitter experience and garnering over one billion users. However, shortly after its launch, there were accusations of Threads censoring. And denying users the right to appeal, as exposed by Public's Michael Shellenberger on Substack.

Conservative commentators Derek Utley and Rogan O'Hanley took to Twitter to express their frustration with being censored on Threads. 

Utley tweeted, "@Meta/IG just released their new threads platform, and I've been informed by multiple users that I'm censored on their new platform. Sheesh, can't a dude catch a break?"

 O'Hanley echoed the sentiment, stating, "First 5 minutes on Threads and already censored. What a platform."

Threads displayed warnings when users tried to access Utley and O'Hanley's profiles, suggesting that these accounts repeatedly posted false information.

 With a staggering 10 million downloads within seven hours of its launch, Threads has the advantage of potential access to Meta's billions of Instagram users, making it a serious contender to Twitter's dominance and earning the label "Twitter killer."

Threads censoring

However, despite promising not to censor content, Threads has faced accusations of doing so, drawing criticism from Florida-based Truth Social, a network launched by former President Donald Trump. Truth Social accuses Meta of resorting to typical Big Tech censorship, while assuring its subscribers that it will remain a haven for free speech.

Interestingly, Truth Social has faced its own share of criticism for censoring content, ranging from coverage of the Jan. 6 Committee hearings to links to Breitbart. Led by former U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes, the Sarasota-based company emerged as an alternative to Twitter and Facebook after Trump's suspension from those platforms following the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

Although both Twitter and Facebook have since lifted their suspensions on Trump, he has exclusively used the Truth Social platform while maintaining Twitter and Facebook accounts for his presidential campaign.

Twitter under Musk gone to great lengths to become an anti-censorship platform. Since the platform was acquired by Musk a significant number of accounts have been restored.

He also made public the “Twitter Files,” which were internal company emails that revealed Twitter’s earlier collaboration with the US Government to determine who to cesor.

 Threads, viewed as a direct competitor to Twitter, has even triggered Elon Musk, the owner of Twitter's parent company X, to threaten a lawsuit against Meta, alleging the misuse of trade secrets in developing the new platform.