Twitter finds itself embroiled in a legal dispute with Meta, the parent company of Instagram, over Meta’s newly launched text-based app called Threads. In response to what it believes is the unlawful misappropriation of trade secrets and intellectual property, Twitter has threatened to take legal action against Meta. The social media giant has accused Meta of poaching former employees and leveraging their knowledge of Twitter’s trade secrets to expedite the development of Threads.
Alex Spiro, renowned attorney and representative for Twitter’s parent company, X Corp, conveyed the company’s stance in a letter addressed to Meta. Spiro asserted Twitter’s intention to rigorously protect its intellectual property rights and demanded that Meta immediately cease the use of any Twitter trade secrets or highly confidential information. The letter further stated that Twitter reserves the right to pursue civil remedies and injunctive relief without prior notice to prevent any further retention, disclosure, or usage of its intellectual property by Meta.
According to Spiro, Meta has allegedly hired numerous ex-Twitter employees within the past year with the explicit purpose of assigning them to work on Threads. The claim suggests that Meta aimed to exploit Twitter’s trade secrets and other intellectual property to expedite the development of its competing app. Spiro argued that such actions violate state and federal laws, as well as the contractual obligations of the former Twitter employees to their previous employer. Additionally, Meta has been accused of scraping Twitter data related to users’ followings, an act expressly prohibited by Twitter.
Dismissing Twitter’s claims, Meta’s communications director, Andy Stone, countered Spiro’s allegations in a statement on Threads. Stone categorically denied that any member of the Threads engineering team had previously been employed by Twitter, dismissing the notion as baseless.
In the interim, users interested in accessing Threads must sign up for the app using their Instagram profiles. This streamlined registration process facilitated Meta in quickly attracting tens of millions of users. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed that within just over 12 hours of the app’s launch, Threads had already amassed a user base of 30 million people.
As the dispute between Twitter and Meta escalates, the outcome of this legal conflict remains uncertain. Both companies appear resolute in defending their respective positions, setting the stage for a potentially protracted legal battle with significant implications for the technology industry.
