Link: Who actually uses Instagram’s Threads app? Taiwanese protestors - Rest of World

Jason Liu, a former journalist who runs the popular podcast May I Ask, posted recordings from the protest scene, where people chanted slogans like “Defend democracy.” As a new platform, Liu told Rest of World, Threads is able to amplify the voices of ordinary users. “There is so much misinformation and fake accounts in Taiwan,” he said. “Everyone is looking for something real. Threads is proving to be doing just that.” X has never become mainstream in Taiwan. During the last major protest, the 2014 Sunflower Movement, student activists communicated through a mix of Facebook, local forums, and YouTube livestreams, participants told Rest of World. But the youth have now found those platforms to be obsolete and too conservative. “It feels like we are starting fresh [on Threads],” Huang Tzu-ning, a 26-year-old education worker, told Rest of World. Huang, who began posting on the day of Taiwan’s presidential election, has been interacting with high school and university students about how to participate in politics. “Facebook no longer has these young groups.” Katherine Chen, a communications professor at the National Chengchi University in Taiwan who also works on Meta’s Oversight Board, told Rest of World that Threads has created a bubble for young, progressive Taiwanese people, with less interference from older internet users and advertisements. The platform has created a new opportunity for the DPP to mobilize support, she said. #

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Yoooo, this is a quick note on a link that made me go, WTF? Find all past links here.