Meta begins global ad rollout on Threads

On Wednesday, Meta announced that it is expanding advertisements on Threads to all users globally. The expansion, which is scheduled to start next week, will be gradual, and the company notes it may take months for the full rollout to complete worldwide. Meta also indicated that ad delivery initially would remain “low” as the advertising features scale to users globally.

The social media platform has grown since its debut in July 2023. Threads has now reached over 400 million monthly active users, which is a metric for unique users who engage with the app in a month. This is up from the 200 million users it recorded in mid-2024 and the 320 million users it reached in January 2025. Last April, the platform added 30 million users and opened to global advertisers. Although Threads has not yet hit the 1 billion user milestone, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has previously expressed optimism about the app’s trajectory, stating that Threads had a good chance of reaching 1 billion users in a few years’ time.

The global expansion follows a phased testing period. A year ago, Threads began testing ads in the U.S. and Japan. To facilitate adoption, Meta has made it easy for existing advertisers to expand their reach to include Threads by allowing them to manage Threads campaigns alongside Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp within their existing business settings, simplifying cross-posting. Advertisers can place ads manually or automatically through Advantage+, which is Meta’s automated advertising program. Supported formats on the platform include image and video ads, a 4:5 aspect ratio, and carousel ads, an ad format allowing multiple images or videos in a single post.

To support the rollout, Meta is extending the third-party verification already available on Facebook and Instagram to the Threads feed. This verification is managed through Meta Business Partners, which operates as a third-party verification service. The integration provides advertisers with independent brand safety—which verifies that ads appear in appropriate contexts—and suitability verification. This independent verification is a feature as Threads competes for ad spend with rival platform X, which is currently dealing with a “scourge of illegal deepfakes.”

Why it matters

Meta is scaling its monetization strategy for Threads, moving from testing to a full global rollout. This transition signals the platform’s maturity as a viable advertising channel alongside Meta’s established applications.