Back in January, reverse engineer Alessandro Paluzzi (@alex193a) first uncovered that Threads was working on spoiler tags. Now, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg (@zuck) has made it official: the feature is in testing. It is a straightforward tool for hiding content, especially text, behind a block that you have to click to reveal, perfect for discussing the ending of your favorite show without ruining the experience for others. It is also, notably, a feature that Reddit has had since January 2017.
For a platform aiming to be a town square for public discourse, not having a native way to handle spoilers is a small but noticeable handicap for communities focused on pop culture. In a press release, Meta told TechCrunch that popular shows like The Last of Us trended heavily on the app, which the company frames as a sign of a "growing community of entertainment and pop culture enthusiasts."
The new feature also supports images so that you can hide shocking visuals or text-filled screenshots. From the images Meta shared, it seems to work just as Paluzzi uncovered months ago. Users with access to the test can highlight text in the composer, and a "mark spoiler" option will appear in a small menu. This method is purely button-based, unlike on Reddit, where users have the option of either using a similar editor button or manually typing out the markdown command >!like this! to hide their text.
This update does not exist in a vacuum. After several months of feeling incomplete, the platform has been getting features that users have actually been asking for. We have seen this with the recent DMs feature, also in testing, which finally gives people a way to have private chats without jumping over to other platforms like Instagram.
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