The new Threads app arrived with a bang on Thursday with millions instantly signing up - but users have found one pretty big flaw with the current version.

The new app from Meta has already been dubbed the 'Twitter-killer' due to its similar functions, and can only be set up by users with an existing Instagram account.

The launch of the app was preceded by a lot of hype, especially after recent changes to the Twitter user experience since Elon Musk bought out the platform.

Millions flocked to create their own accounts on the platform on July 6 as it launched - but some soon found out that there was no way to delete your account on Threads without also getting rid of your Instagram account, too.

Millions signed up to Threads as soon as it went live. Credit: Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Many had opted to try out the new platform after Musk announced the temporary introduction of "rate limits", putting a cap on the maximum number of tweets a user could read, depending on if they were verified or unverified, and how recently they'd set up their account.

It was cited that the reason for the limit was due to "extreme levels of data scraping & system manipulation" from AI companies.

After 10 million people signed up to Threads in seven hours, according to owner Mark Zuckerberg, some tried to leave the platform as quickly as they'd arrived and delete their account - only to find they couldn't.

According to Threads's Supplemental Privacy Policy and a Help Centre page, if a user wishes to delete their Threads account, their Instagram account will also be deleted as the two are linked.

When signing up for Threads, users must have an existing Instagram account and it allows them to then import bio information and followers from the same profile.

Within the Help Centre, it also stated that users can delete individual posts or temporarily deactivate their account, thus hiding their posts from other users, until they reactivate their account.

A Supplemental Privacy Policy also states, via Insider: "Your Threads profile is part of your Instagram account, and may be deleted at any time by deleting your Instagram account."

After users voiced their concerns, Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri confirmed: "I've been getting some questions about deleting your account.

"To clarify, you can deactivate your Threads account, which hides your Threads profile and content, you can set your profile to private, and you can delete individual threads posts - all without deleting your Instagram account.

"Threads is powered by Instagram, so right now it's just one account, but we're looking into a way to delete your Threads account separately."

Credit: Adam Mosseri

Some users took to Twitter to share their shock at being "trapped" with the app, writing: "The men trapped us. If you delete this, you also delete Instagram."

Others added: "why is the threads app telling me that if i wanna delete my thread account I HAVE TO DELETE MY ENTIRE INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT!?", and: "The fact you can’t delete threads once you get it (without deleting IG all together) is enough to never make me get it. Have fun y’all."

One even joked: "we can’t delete our threads account without deleting our ig?? they knew ppl would instantly hate it so they made it a saw trap"

For now, it seems the best thing to do if you want to delete Threads without losing your Instagram account is to just wait it out until the update comes allowing you to do just that - or deactivate it in the meantime.

Featured image credit: Onur Dogman/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Here's a modern-day horror story for you: you're scrolling through your crush's Instagram account, and spot that they've added something new to their "story". The joy! You now have the opportunity to stalk them in real time, and discover that they have a penchant for visiting jazz bars on Monday evenings, and that their beverage of choice is a gin and tonic. I mean, it really is the all-important information you need to arm yourself with should you secure a date with the individual in question. But then, as some boys and girls like to do, you screenshot the information and send it to your BFF - because who else would inform you that your love interest's liquor of choice could indicate that he's a closeted sociopath? And only your best gal pal will advise you to rock up to that jazz joint, Monday after Monday, until you inevitably "bump into" them. So you screenshot away, only to discover that the object of your affection has cottoned onto what you've been doing, as Instagram has been letting them know each and every time you've snapped their story. Now, that explains the weird glances you've been getting as you cross paths by the water cooler. Yes, it's bad news for all of us who like to be creeps on social media, as Instagram is reportedly launching a feature that tells people if you screenshot their stories. Told you it was a horror story. Images uploaded onto Twitter by people in the testing group show the notification, which reads "Screenshots in Stories. Next time you take a screenshot or screen recording, the person who posted the story will be able to see." Yes, it's certainly bad for those of us who enjoy a bit of gossip, with photographic evidence to boot. Users who are part of the A/B testing can currently see who took a screenshot of their story by going to the list of their story viewers. If anyone has indeed taken a screenshot, a camera shutter logo will appear beside their name. Guilty as charged. [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/readbyher/status/962606574060490752]] In a statement to TechCrunch, a spokesperson from Instagram HQ asserted, "We are always testing ways to improve the experience on Instagram and make it easier to share any moment with the people who matter to you." However, there is hope. According to some sources on social media, if you put your phone on airplane mode before committing the deed, you can safely screenshot away with the person in question being none the wiser. Otherwise, there are a plethora of apps that you can download to aid your stalker-ish ways. This new feature is, of course, similar to the way that rival platform Snapchat functions. The app gives users a notification every time someone screenshots their snaps. In this instance, though, Instagrammers won't be directly informed, they'll have to manually check the analytics tab to see if the "shutter" icon pops up next to anyone who has viewed their story. Scary stuff, eh?

An Australian Instagram influencer has had a meltdown over the photosharing app's alleged decision to remove likes from posts.

Despite having a fairly modest following of less than 50,000, Mikaela Testa, 19, went into a Facebook rant about how the social network's change has affected the lives of those who use professionally.

She claims that for every 1,000 likes she receives, she can make up to A$1,000 ($698.46).

However, since the app changed its policy, Testa has noticed a reduction in the amount of engagement her posts receive.

[[imagecaption|| Credit: Instagram / Mikaela Testa]]

In a now-deleted Facebook post, the 19-year-old explained how taking selfies for a living was a real job:

"Regardless of what you may think, Instagram is a REAL job and those in the industry have worked hard to get where they're at.

It's people that aren't even in the industry that think it's a f***ing joke. It's not, it's real damage out here. I've put my blood, sweat and tears into this for it to be ripped away, it's not just me suffering too, it's every brand and business I know."

Under the new change - while users are able to see how many likes their posts get - other people cannot see the popularity of any one post. This change was made in a bid to reduce the pressure users felt to have popular posts.

[[imagecaption|| Credit: Instagram / Mikaela Testa]]

After venting her frustration at the change in the photo-sharing app's algorithm, the influencer decided to take a "really big break from social media".

A day later, she was back online sharing selfies.

As much as we may like to complain about it sometimes, social media is a very useful thing. It allows us to keep in touch with our friends, stay up to date with events or shows we may be interested in going along to or following along with, and - if you are so inclined - check-in on that cute person who gave you their Insta handle when you got talking to them at a coffee shop one time.

However, as with pretty much any great invention, it certainly has its flaws. Facebook is always reminding you of that person you regret dating with the "memories" feature, for instance, and Twitter is so often overrun with people posting weak variations of the same 280-character joke over and over again.

And, while there might not yet be a way to ensure that you don't continue to see a million retweets about the Royal Wedding on your feed, there is a way that you can filter out unwanted Insta content.

The people behind the app have finally created a mute button, meaning that you can avoid seeing content from certain accounts without having to unfollow. This is especially useful if you want to avoid spoilers for a recent TV show or movie without having to unfollow everyone involved with it, and also comes in handy for when you're just not in the mood for seeing your friend's 17 #fitspiration posts first thing on a Monday morning.

"When you mute an account, you can still see posts on their profile page and get notified about comments or posts you're tagged in," Instagram said in their latest blog post.

"The accounts you mute will not be aware that you've muted them. You can always unmute an account to get their posts back in your feed.

"To mute an account, tap the ... menu in the corner of the post. From there, you can choose whether to mute posts, or mute posts and stories from an account. You can also mute posts and stories by pressing and holding on a story in your tray, or from a profile."

At present, the new feature is not available to everyone - so don't start throwing a hissy fit if your app doesn't look any different yet. However, a small number of iOS users are currently being used to trial the mute button, so you might have it already if you're an iPhone user.

Once any kinks have been ironed out, the new update should be available universally over the next few weeks.

While, admittedly, it might seem a little strange for a platform based on "following" other people to now allow muting those very same individuals, it does make sense. After all, we're all familiar with the feeling of not wanting to see a particular friend's face for a short while after a disagreement, or perhaps having to impose a little self-restraint when it comes to viewing a certain celebrity's story as soon as they post an update.

All in all, it seems like the bonus feature can only be a good thing. That is until someone works out you've muted them...

Anyway, happy 'gramming everyone!

Remember when Instagram purged bot accounts in 2014? Like many people, I’d built my humble following in the heady days of spammy hashtags and endless filters. I therefore lost about half of my followers and Instagram have performed other purges since. However, that doesn’t seem to have stopped a new generation of Instagram bot from invading the app.

“I’m alone and horny” the aptly-named Randee Illard tells me over direct message one afternoon. Stating that she just wants to “personal speak” on her naked cam, I’m directed to the link in her bio. Somewhere between the fixer and the main attraction, she adds “in addition, you could connect a lot of other very hot girls once I don’t online”.

This is perhaps a vague reference to the fact that many of these accounts operate on a “churn and burn” basis, often getting shut down before any real fan base can be built. Not so for Randee, though, who has 10,000 followers.

[[imagecaption|| Credit: Getty]]

If you dare follow the link you will be met with a website which redirects to another site and then to a third site once you confirm that you want to meet hot girls in your area. The continuity lacking, the proposition has changed somewhat by this point.

With so many accounts sending the same link to new followers, this pattern would be easily picked up by Instagram’s spam filters. However, the redirects form a band of protection around the destination site, helping to prevent these bot accounts from being identified and shut down.

Almost anyone can work with these websites as an affiliate, and will usually work on a PPL (pay per lead) or PPS (pay per sale or sign-up) basis. One of the most popular adult affiliate marketing websites is CrakRevenue, where you can earn a cool $5 per email sign-up, as per the PPS model. On certain "black hat" websites, you can even purchase "packs" of images of girls - so as to appear legitimate.

[[imagecaption|| Credit: Getty]]

“Adult entertainment is [a] 100-billion-dollar industry and, as such, it involves a lot of advertising,” explains Xavier Santana of affiliate marketing website Mobidea. “More importantly, adult entertainment isn’t limited only to sleazy and x rated stuff. Other huge sources of possible revenue? Dating and matchmaking sites, apps, and platforms. Indeed, there are a whole lot of affiliate marketing verticals to choose from!” He adds: “Men visiting these sites generally want to interact with that male fantasy of what women are like, which is of course a far cry from the real thing.”

Clearly, there is an entire industry centred on getting people to these websites and, perhaps unsurprisingly, it’s usually not people from the websites themselves posing as permanently aroused 21-year-old women.

“As you might expect, the adult niche is a bit of a high-risk, high-reward game,” Santana muses. “If you’re an adult affiliate, you know the playing field is rife with hackers, scammers, and other no-gooders, but a brave and intrepid soul can really make a fortune here.”

[[imagecaption|| Credit: Getty]]

“Not only can these guys target you and potentially damage your revenue,” he adds, “the whole niche has a bit of a bad reputation (of course this goes more for porn sites than dating sites) so it’s a bit of an uphill battle to create a reputable, stable site that will work perfectly.

“If you do your homework and pay attention,” Santana concludes, “the adult niche in affiliate marketing can be an awesome business opportunity that can turn into ridiculous amounts of money on a fairly modest budget.”

However, the proliferation of bots on the internet is nothing new. Anyone old enough to recall SmarterChild on MSN Messenger will have fond memories of bizarre conversations with a chatbot which seemed like a real person but was lacking that one thing that makes us human - emotion.

[[imagecaption|| Credit: Getty]]

It is strange to think that there are now thousands of such “bots” mimicking human behaviour so successfully that they are sometimes thought to be real people. Working specifically with Twitter users, a piece of software called BotOrNot aims to reveal whether these purported people are, in fact, real.

“It doesn’t take much time to distinguish fake Twitter followers from real, even if you have thousands of them,” the BotOrNot website explains. “Nowadays, there are proven bot detection technologies that help you with this task. BotOrNot is a perfect Twitter bot detector that able to spot fake followers on Twitter with high [levels] of accuracy.”

“Moreover, with the help of BotOrNot you can not only recognise fake followers but unfollow them immediately on our website,” they continue. “Not sure if [a] user is real or fake? Check the account with BotOrNot and leave only effective audience. Stop collecting fake followers.”

[[imagecaption|| Credit: BotOrNot]]

Of course, many of the fake or “bot” accounts on social media platforms don’t have any form of conversational software built in. But it’s the ones that do which are by far the most convincing.

“Between 10 and 11% of the users involved in conversations around the election are flagged as bots,” explained Professor Emilio Ferrara to the Guardian last year. As principal investigator in machine intelligence and data science at the University of Southern California, Ferrara knows what he’s talking about. “That is significantly less than in 2016 when it was something like 20%. The pessimistic interpretation is that our bot-detection systems are not picking up the more sophisticated bots, which look just like humans even to the eyes of the algorithms.”

Needless to say, the best advice is to steer clear of any automated-seeming account on Instagram. If you’re wondering whether the person you’re speaking to is human or not, you can ask Turing test-style questions like: “Is the difference between a fish purely that one of its legs are both the same?” Of course, if there really is a person on the other end, they might be a bit freaked out.