Meta is about to make a major change to Threads: advertising is going global. The company announced Wednesday that it will begin expanding ads in Threads to all users worldwide starting next week. The rollout won’t happen overnight, though. Meta says the expansion will be gradual, and it could take months before ads are fully available everywhere.
The move signals growing confidence in Threads as a long-term competitor in the social media space. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has repeatedly positioned Threads as a rising star and a serious rival to X, pointing to its rapid adoption and momentum. Threads has now surpassed 400 million monthly active users, a milestone that underscores just how quickly the app has scaled since launching in July 2023.
That growth story has been accelerating in clear steps. Threads reached 200 million users by mid-2024, climbed to 320 million by January 2025, and then added another 30 million by April before arriving at its latest figure. Zuckerberg has previously suggested the platform could potentially reach 1 billion users within a few years, and the steady climb helps explain why Meta is now pushing harder on monetization.
While this global expansion is new, ads themselves aren’t entirely new to Threads. Meta has been testing advertising on the platform for some time, beginning with early tests in the U.S. and Japan about a year ago. By last April, Threads was opened to global advertisers, laying the groundwork for the broader rollout now arriving for users worldwide.
For brands and marketers already using Meta’s ad ecosystem, Threads is designed to be an easy add-on rather than a separate learning curve. Advertisers can automatically extend campaigns to Threads through Meta’s Advantage+ program or choose to set up placements manually. Threads supports common creative formats such as image and video ads, along with newer options including a 4:5 aspect ratio format and carousel ads—formats commonly used to drive engagement and storytelling in-feed.
Meta is also emphasizing convenience. Businesses can manage Threads ads in the same place they already manage campaigns across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp through Business Settings, making it simpler to coordinate creative, budgets, and reporting across multiple platforms.
Another key piece of the rollout focuses on trust and brand safety. Meta says it has expanded third-party verification—already used across Facebook and Instagram placements like feed and Reels—to include the Threads feed through Meta Business Partners. This gives advertisers access to independent brand safety and suitability checks, which may matter more than ever as major social platforms confront ongoing issues such as illegal deepfakes.
Meta hasn’t disclosed exactly how frequently ads will appear in Threads feeds as the change expands, but it did say ad delivery will initially remain low while the feature scales globally. In other words, users should expect ads to arrive gradually rather than all at once, while advertisers gain a new avenue to reach Threads’ fast-growing audience.
