Threads — the Twitter copy Meta launched in 2023 — is now stamping little badges on its most prolific 500 million posters. Meta's data centers drank over 6.4 billion liters of water in 2022 to keep the servers from melting. That's roughly 12.8 liters per Threads user, per year, evaporated so Geoffrey from accounting can post "this." I did the arithmetic.
Mark Zuckerberg did not put a badge on that number. Susan Li, his CFO, signs off on the cooling bills in Asia — South Korea and Japan host racks that sweat through aquifers — and somehow the "top contributor" laurel goes to a man dunking on a stranger's sourdough. Mark, specifically, heats a backyard cauldron of brisket on mesquite he flies in. I know what mesquite costs to ship.
The badge is pewter-colored. The water is gone.
Based on the original article "Meta's Threads app now has half a billion monthly users".
