Meta's clone of Twitter launched Wednesday evening and was made available in the Apple iOS App Store at 7:00 pm E.T.
The big picture: Mark Zuckerberg's bargain is to offer you a cleaner version of Twitter — "sharing with text" — in exchange for handing over more data.
Meta is promising a Thursday launch for Threads by Instagram, its Twitter clone, presenting Twitter with its most serious competition since Elon Musk took ownership of the company in October.
Why it matters: A number of smaller rivals have challenged Twitter since Elon Musk acquired it, but none have been able to match Twitter's scale.
The old web is coming apart at the seams faster than efforts to shape a new one can fill the gap.
Driving the news: Over the long holiday weekend, Elon Musk shut down public access to Twitter, requiring users to be logged in to read anything anyone has ever said in the ostensible "global town square." (That access has since been restored, and related rate limits lifted.)
A federal judge restricted Biden administration officials and agencies from communicating with social media companies on content moderation in a preliminary injunction Tuesday.
Why it matters: The decision in an ongoing lawsuit from Republican attorneys general in Louisiana and Missouri, who allege the Biden administration's efforts to encourage social media companies to crack down on COVID disinformation and other matters is "sprawling federal 'Censorship Enterprise,'" could have major First Amendment implications.
Digital World Acquisition Corp., the special purpose acquisition company that inked a deal to acquire former President Trump's media and tech company, said on Monday that it has struck a tentative settlement with securities regulators.
Why it matters: The SEC's probe into the merger, which would result in Trump's Truth Social becoming a publicly traded company, has delayed the deal considerably. It has until Sept. 8 to close, or the parties can walk away.
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