Mark Zuckerberg's wannabe Twitter Killer, an uncreative copycat app called Threads, signed up a stunning 100 million new users in its first five days — and for what? It doesn't even sell advertising, yet.

Meanwhile, Twitter's owner, Elon Musk, just counterpunched Threads and the social media metascape with a haymaker: Twitter has begun sharing a cut of ad sales with some of its most-followed users. Last Thursday, it began paying out thousands of dollars to popular influencers as their share of the ad views their content commands.

Even liberal commentators benefited: Brothers Brian and Ed Krassenstein each reported receiving $25,000, some of the highest payments in the new program.

It likely is the first time any major platform ever has shared a cut of its own ad sales with users. This may prompt top personalities to start demanding a cut of ad sales on other outlets, including TikTok, Snap, YouTube, and Meta's Facebook and Instagram platforms.

Take that, Zuck.

Even if Threads manages to best Twitter, the upside for Meta barely will be a rounding error. Facebook revenue is 38 times as large as that of Twitter, its earnings are 28 times Twitter's, and Facebook's market cap is 18 times as large as the $44 billion Musk paid.

So, why is Zuckerberg bothering with Threads at all?

The answer lies in a reversal of the line from "The Godfather": This is personal, not business. Mark Zuckerberg, in targeting Twitter, is using Threads to gussy up his own tattered image before the Musk-hating media and Meta's rapacious government overlords. For more on this, listen to episode 34 of "What's Bugging Me."

Channeling Barney the purple dinosaur, Zuck promises, "We are definitely focusing on kindness and making this a friendly place." Just don't expect unbridled free speech.

Zuckerberg and Facebook seemingly cooperated with our nation's government to censor views it did not like, of Americans. Arguably this prevented many of our citizens from hearing views which were muzzled.

This includes content from Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Children's Health Defense, anti-vax commentary from Tucker Carlson, and Jill Hines, co-director of Health Freedom Louisiana.

She dared advocate against forcing masks on young children, and her Facebook suspension reduced her group's reach from 1.4 million monthly interactions to fewer than 100,000.

We know all of this from the 155-page court ruling issued on July 4 by U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty, telling government to keep its mudhooks off social media. Hear, hear.

Given comparatively recent news headlines, questions must be asked: Did Facebook censor the Hunter Biden laptop scandal? Did they block accurate information on COVID-19?

Most importantly, did they suppress posts that fell short of violating its policies?

Thanks to an alarming exposé published by the Journal on June 8 ("Instagram Connects Vast Pedophile Network"), we also know that Meta platforms hosted 85% of the 32 million online child porn images logged last year by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

But never mind all that: Zuckerberg is a media hero, once again. They applaud Threads to cringeworthy lengths. Insider.com: "Of all the apps that have tried to be the Twitter Killer, Meta's Threads is probably the one we're all going to start using."

The New York Times: "Threads Becomes Most Rapidly Downloaded App as Twitter Threatens Meta."

Alas, even my beloved Forbes, where I was managing editor long ago when it was still a conservative magazine, says, hopefully, "Meta's Threads Really Could Be a Twitter Killer."

Over at CNBC, stock picker Jim Cramer weighed in, even though Twitter no longer is a publicly traded stock. "I say game, set, match Zuckerberg," Cramer declared on July 5 on CNBC, just hours after Threads debuted. "Instagram is a really terrific product, and Twitter is awful."

Maybe he failed to hear about the Journal story, given most of the media pretty much ignored it. But they are all over Zuckerberg's self-serving attempt to undermine the freest free speech platform of our age. What a bunch of shameless shills.

Dennis Kneale is a writer and media strategist in New York and host of the podcast, "What's Bugging Me." Previously, he was an anchor at CNBC and at Fox Business Network, after serving as a senior editor at The Wall Street Journal and managing editor of Forbes. Read Dennis Kneale's reports — More Here.