Threads knows it has an engagement bait problem

If you've noticed more engagement bait appearing across your Threads feed, you're not alone. Meta is aware of the issue and looking at how to address it, according to Instagram boss Adam Mosseri. "We've seen an increase in engagement-bait on Threads and we're working to get it under control," Mosseri said on Threads in response to comments flagging the issue.

Engagement bait on Threads typically covers posts with banal questions or invites for open-ended discussions to encourage other users to interact. Because Threads, like Instagram, pushes users to see an algorithmic feed of posts by default, getting more interactions can snowball a simple post into virality.

When asked about comparisons between Threads and X in a recent Decoder interview, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg alluded to the fact that comment engagement was a fundamental aspect of a "very good discussion-oriented platform."

"Not all comments or replies are good," said Mosseri. "Mark's comment is more about the Twitter pioneering a format where the reply can be elevated, which is a good thing, but that doesn't mean that every reply should be." The thread that Mosseri replied to cites one example of a bait post, featuring a seemingly AI-generated image paired with an incendiary take on politeness that had pulled in more than 17,000 responses.

Business Insider's Katie Notopoulos recently experimented with posts that intentionally motivated users to reply to see if the tactic was successful and could be used to abuse the Threads algorithm.

The tests were "almost too successful," according to Notopoulos, who found people were still replying to one post four days after it was initially published, backing up the idea that the platform's algorithm prioritizes posts with a higher number of comments over those with more reposts or likes. This incentivizes people to play to the algorithm on platforms such as Threads and X that financially reward creators based on how their posts perform, even if those posts are meaningless or based on made-up information.

A statement provided to Notopoulos by an undisclosed Meta rep confirmed that post replies are considered when determining which posts are recommended to Threads users, alongside how recently a post was published and the accounts and posts that users interact with.

Mosseri didn't reveal how the engagement bait issue would be resolved, saying only that there was "more to come."