Multiple Threads users on the iOS app reported earlier today that they were seeing a new “Latest” option to sort search results on the new social network.
However, the company told TechCrunch that the feature was just an internal prototype and was rolled out in error.
“Earlier today, an internal prototype was accidentally made available to a small number of people – it is not something we are currently testing externally,” they said in a statement.
In November, Instagram head Adam Mosseri explained that Threads did not have an option to search for the latest results because it would create a “security vulnerability.”
“To be clear, a chronologically complete list of *every* post containing a specific word inevitably means that spammers and other bad actors can attack views with content simply by adding the relevant word or tag. ,” Mosseri said at the time. “Before you ask why we don’t remove that objectionable content, understand that there is a lot more content that people don’t want to see than content that we can or should remove.”
He added that results could be displayed in chronological order, but social networks would need to weed out poor quality content.
Threads first began testing the ability to search for posts in Australia and New Zealand in August 2023. Last September, Meta expanded its search capabilities to nearly every English- and Spanish-speaking country where the social network is available. In December, the company expanded search to all languages, launching it in the European Union later that month.
