Black Twitter Finds New Home on Meta's Threads, Users Say

Threads, Meta's text-based app, has become a central gathering place for Black social media users who once relied on Twitter, according to reporting by Wired published September 30. The shift became visible last week after a Mississippi grand jury declined to bring criminal charges in the death of Nolan Wells, an 18-year-old Black college student who disappeared while traveling with a group of white friends on Horn Island and was later found dead.

What happened with the Nolan Wells case on Threads?

The grand jury's decision came down September 21, and Black users on Threads responded within days, Wired reported. User @_taexoxo wrote two days after the ruling: "Just so it's abundantly clear: The state of Mississippi is covering up the murder of Nolan Wells." Comedian D.L. Hughley also weighed in on the platform, comparing the outcome to an unrelated case: "This year a grand jury handed down an indictment for a pool of water turning green, but didn't indict when a black kid was found floating face down in water!" Wired described the online reaction as part of a pattern of Black users calling out perceived racial hypocrisy, a role Twitter played during the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement in the 2020s.

Why are Black users leaving X for Threads?

Twitter changed ownership in 2022 when Elon Musk bought the platform and renamed it X, according to Wired. Longtime users told the outlet the app became harder to navigate after the sale, with a rise in hate speech and propaganda accounts and what they described as a collapse in moderation. Cultural critic and author Jamilah Lemieux, who spent more than a decade on Twitter discussing motherhood and women's rights, told Wired she pulled back as harassment outweighed positive interactions on the platform. She called the current experience of posting on X "a very deliberate shift away from the progressive Black voices that had defined the platform for its earlier history" and now describes it as "screaming into the void."

Who is driving the conversation on Threads?

Lemieux has become what Wired calls a power user on Threads, where she has built an audience of 208,000 followers on the Meta-run platform. She told Wired the app has filled a void left by Twitter's decline.

"The heyday of Twitter was during the Obama era. Now we're living through the second Trump administration. Having a place to laugh to keep from crying is just as important as it ever was."

She has posted on topics ranging from singer Chris Brown to the debate over public versus private education, according to the Wired report.

What topics dominate Black culture discussions on Threads?

Wired found that, like the Twitter it is replacing, Threads hosts a wide range of conversation — from serious cultural critique to television commentary. One example cited: a user's joke about HBO Max's new superhero series Lanterns, calling it the first sci-fi show "with a black Chosen One and a white Magical Negro." Wired writer Jason Parham, who first wrote about the cultural reach of Black Twitter in 2021, described that earlier platform as functioning as "news and analysis, call and response, judge and jury — a comedy showcase, therapy session, and family cookout all in one." His September 30 piece argues Threads is now serving a similar function.

By the numbers

• 208,000 — followers Jamilah Lemieux has built on Threads, according to Wired.
• 2022 — the year Elon Musk purchased Twitter and renamed it X, a shift Wired reporting ties to the migration of Black users.
• September 21 — the date a Mississippi grand jury declined to indict in the death of Nolan Wells, the event Wired cites as a recent flashpoint on Threads.

What's next for Black Twitter culture online?

Wired's reporting does not say whether Meta has made any changes specifically aimed at retaining Black users, nor does it cite usage or growth figures from Meta itself. The piece is built on user posts and on-the-record comments from Lemieux, framing Threads as a continuation rather than a replica of what Twitter once offered. For now, the pattern Wired describes — serious news reaction sitting next to entertainment commentary — is the clearest evidence that a community once anchored to one platform has found a new one.

For the full account, including additional posts and interviews, read the original Wired story.

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