You keep saying the word shadow account like it’s some nefarious thing. They are following an existing Instagram account that they already follow, and will get a notification when that existing account starts using a new service.

There is nothing wrong with this.

Using an advantage does not mean it’s anti competitive.

There’s no way an app with 2 billion accounts couldn’t have 1 percent of it’s users take 30 seconds to sign up for a Twitter alternative they’ve been waiting for? Why is this such a conspiracy to people?

Yes they are. There were tons of people waiting to leave Twitter for something better. What makes Threads the better alternative is they already have Instagram accounts and so does everybody they know. Joining Threads took me 30 seconds.

The fact they’ve been silent makes me think they are going to let them in and they don’t want the blowback from users like us

Considering the hate and threats that the admin of Universeodon got for just doing due diligence in meeting with Meta might explain that.