Meta has released its Threads API for third-party developers at Cannes Lions festival.

Meta has launched its Threads API at Cannes Lions festival this week, allowing third-party developers to publish content, source content and hide posts. The launch had been promised by Meta earlier this year.  

Predicted to be available by the end of June, the free API also brings highly anticipated analytical capabilities, meaning developers can access metrics like views, likes, replies, reposts and quotes for Threads posts.

“People can now publish posts via the API, fetch their own content, and leverage our reply management capabilities to set reply and quote controls, retrieve replies to their posts, hide, unhide or respond to specific replies,” says Jesse Chen, director of engineering at Threads, in a blog post.

Thread currently has 150 million users, a figure that is predicted to keep rising. “Insights are one of our top requested features for the API,” Chen adds.  

Additionally, Meta will be allowing select advertisers to create and send paid marketing messages on Messenger via Ads Manager. At the press event, Nicola Mendelsohn, head of global business group at Meta, said: “We have seen a trend in WhatsApp users engaging with businesses across messaging platforms.

“This will help businesses to drive sales and alleviate the pressures of running an online business.”