Twitter has issued a threat to sue Meta’s new Threads app, which poses as a potential competitor to the micro blogging site. A letter addressed to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was sent on Wednesday, accusing Meta of stealing trade secrets by hiring former Twitter employees. In the letter, lawyer Alex Spiro, representing Twitter owner Elon Musk, alleged that Meta engaged in “systematic, willful, and unlawful misappropriation of Twitter’s trade secrets and other intellectual property.”
Spiro’s letter stated that Twitter intends to rigorously protect its intellectual property rights and demanded that Meta cease using any Twitter trade secrets or highly confidential information immediately. Elon Musk tweeted after the successful launch of the Threads application, saying, “Competition is fine, cheating is not.” The new app had a highly successful launch, with Zuckerberg revealing that over ten million users signed up within the first seven hours, surpassing the initial launch numbers of some other popular platforms.
Spiro also mentioned Twitter’s right to pursue civil remedies or injunctive relief. He noted that the letter served as a “formal notice” for Meta to preserve relevant documents for a potential dispute between the companies. In response to the report, Meta spokesperson Andy Stone stated that no one on the Threads engineering team was a former Twitter employee, clarifying that it was not a factual claim.
Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino has not publicly commented on the letter sent on Wednesday, but she seemingly addressed the launch of Threads in a tweet on Thursday. Yaccarino wrote, “We’re often imitated—but the Twitter community can never be duplicated.”
Meanwhile, Reuters reported that Threads accumulated over 30 million sign-ups within approximately 18 hours of its launch. Meta’s new platform has emerged as the first significant threat to Musk-owned Twitter, leveraging its access to billions of Instagram users and sporting a similar interface to its rival.
“The cage match has started, and Zuckerberg delivered a major blow. In many ways, it’s exactly what you’d expect from Meta: Stellar execution and an easy-to-navigate user interface,” said Jasmine Enberg, principal analyst at Insider Intelligence, as quoted by Reuters. Some analysts suggest that Meta’s new app could pose a significant challenge to Twitter, citing the excitement surrounding Threads’ launch and impressive download numbers thus far.
The app arrives at a time when many users are seeking Twitter alternatives to avoid the tumultuous oversight of Elon Musk since he acquired the platform last year for $44 billion.
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