Threads adds ghost posts that vanish from timelines after 24 hours

Meta's Threads rolled out a new ephemeral posting option called ghost posts on Monday, allowing users to publish content that automatically leaves public timelines after 24 hours and moves to the author's archived folder. The feature, which is available worldwide on mobile and desktop, is enabled by tapping a ghost icon in the composer; ghost posts appear to others as a grayed, dotted chat bubble to distinguish them from regular posts.

Ghost posts are designed so that public visibility ends after a day while remaining accessible to the original poster. After 24 hours a ghost post disappears from timelines but is retained in the account's archive, where the author can review or unarchive it at any time. Engagement on ghost posts is restricted: replies to a ghost post are routed directly to the poster's direct message inbox rather than appearing in the public thread, and only the post author can see who liked or replied. Other users may see an indicator, described by Threads as a smiley-face icon, showing that reactions or replies occurred without revealing details. Threads' message request settings will determine whether replies from people the author does not follow go into...