Meta says Threads reaches 500 million monthly active users

In short: Threads has grown to 500 million monthly active users, and Meta is steering it toward topic-based communities that look more like Reddit-style forums.

What's going on

Meta says its social app Threads has reached 500 million monthly active users. That means 500 million people used it at least once in the last month. Meta shared the update in mid-June 2026, about three years after Threads launched in July 2023.

Threads was introduced as Meta’s alternative to X, the service once called Twitter. Mark Zuckerberg has said the long-term target is 1 billion users, and he described 500 million as “halfway there.” Some outside tracking firms had suggested Threads was slowing down, but Meta says usage is still growing, including more daily use than a year ago, although it did not share exact daily numbers.

At the same time, Meta is changing what Threads is for. The company says growth is being driven by “communities,” meaning groups of people who show up to talk about specific interests like books, sports, parenting, or music. Meta is rolling out community-focused features, including a communities hub and custom community icons.

This shift makes Threads feel more like Reddit, which is organized around interest-based forums (like separate rooms for different topics). Threads still has a typical social feed, and it does not copy Reddit’s full structure or its system of volunteer moderators. But the direction is clearer now, less about only following people and more about finding conversations by topic.

What to watch

Watch how far Meta goes in building topic spaces inside Threads, and whether people prefer that experience over fast-moving news and commentary on X. Also watch how Meta uses its link to Instagram to keep bringing new people into Threads.

Source: NYTimes