Threads Is Experimenting With Spoiler Alerts on Posts

Try as I might, I can’t seem to quit scrolling on social media. Most of the time, it isn’t a huge problem—other than raising my anxiety or stress, as any good doomscroll will do. But what’s worse than doomscrolling through bad news? Spoilers, of course.

Spoilers for movies and TV shows are probably the main thing that makes me consider ditching these apps for good. For some reason, my social media feeds think I’ve seen any and all popular pieces of content that exist, and the second they air, I should see every discussion and meme possible—spoilers be damned.

Luckily, this way of digital life might be changing soon, at least on Threads. On Monday, Mark Zuckerberg made a short announcement on Meta’s social media site. If you view the post from Zuckerberg’s main Threads page, you’ll see: “Spoiler alert:” followed by a gray bar (desktop) or an animated blur effect (mobile) covering the rest of the post. Click or tap that censored space, and you’ll reveal the rest: “We’re testing a way for you to hide spoilers in your Threads posts.”

This feature is currently in testing, so only a limited pools of users will have access to it, but I welcome it. (Not that I particularly use Threads all that much.) As you can see in the images below (via TechCrunch), once the feature rolls out, you’ll be able to highlight a selection of text in a thread draft and choose a new “Mark spoiler” option that appears in the pop-up. Your selections will be hidden from others who come across your post, unless they choose to tap in and see what you wrote.

Threads, of course, isn’t the first platform to offer this type of spoiler mask. Other social media companies, like Discord, Reddit, and Mastodon, have offered ways for posters to mind spoilers for years. There’s no way to enforce the feature, but it’s just considerate: You never know who your post will reach, and if you care enough about a show or movie to post about it, you likely appreciate allowing people the opportunity to watch that content on their own before being spoiled.