Threads as new marketplace: A threat to leading online platforms?
While Threads officially presents itself as a communication platform, users in Kazakhstan have already turned it into an improvised marketplace. People sell cars, apartments, and clothing, and even advertise oil fields, all without fees or intermediaries. This shift makes Meta’s platform a potential competitor to major local services such as Kolesa.kz, OLX, and Krisha.kz, Kazinform News Agency reports.
One viral example illustrates how far this transformation has gone. A recent Threads post offered an entire oil field in the Mangystau region of Kazakhstan for sale at $17 million. The listing described 12 square kilometers of contractual territory, a functioning oil treatment plant, and a private reservoir park, calling it “an ideal asset with confirmed reserves.” The post quickly spread through the platform, attracting hundreds of comments and shares.
On Threads, posting an “ad” takes only seconds: write a short caption, upload a photo, add a few emojis, and it’s ready. The post immediately appears in the feed of real people, creating a word-of-mouth effect that builds trust between sellers and buyers faster than on traditional platforms.
“I listed my car on Kolesa three times and paid to promote it several times. People kept texting, asking for details, bargaining endlessly, but no one actually came to see the car. On Threads, it reached the right people within a day,” says Yerzhan Zhanibekov.
On traditional platforms, sellers must pay for ad visibility. On Threads, engagement and community do the work: a post can go viral if it looks good or evokes emotion.
For local Kazakh marketplaces, this poses a serious challenge. Users are moving to an environment with no paid options, instant feedback, and interest-based audiences. Meta’s algorithms promote engaging content instead of rigid categories, which makes competition unpredictable but dynamic.
Threads is becoming not just another social network but a “second Telegram” with visual content and Instagram integration. Sellers of clothing, landlords, car owners, freelancers, and small business owners are all moving there. All of this takes place without regulation, oversight, or transaction safeguards.
If Meta decides to expand its commerce functionality by adding tags such as “for sale,” “listing,” or “location,” local platforms could lose a significant share of private sellers. Their main advantages would remain the search structure, filtering, and safety features.
For now, Threads is chaos, but it’s the kind of chaos that works better than algorithms. The app has become a spontaneous marketplace of a new generation: emotional, visual, and fast. It may not replace local marketplaces in the near future, but it is already reshaping user behavior. More and more people now prefer not a “classifieds board,” but a social network as a point of transaction.
Earlier, it was reported that since the introduction of VAT regulations for foreign IT and e-commerce companies in 2022, Kazakhstan has collected over 83 billion tenge in taxes. Major platforms such as Apple, Amazon, Google, Meta, TikTok, Netflix, Aliexpress, and Temu are among those registered as VAT payers.
