In a swift response to the launch of Meta’s Threads app, Twitter has threatened to sue the social media giant just hours after its official release. The legal action comes as Twitter accuses Meta of hiring former Twitter employees to create a “copycat” software, aiming to replace the popular microblogging platform.
Twitter CEO Elon Musk confirmed the lawsuit, tweeting, “Competition is fine, cheating is not.”
Twitter alleges copyright infringement and misappropriation of trade secrets by Meta. In a letter addressed to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter’s lawyer Alex Spiro claims that Meta’s Threads app was developed using confidential information improperly retained by Twitter’s former employees. The letter further states that Meta knowingly assigned these employees to the task to expedite the development process.
Additionally, Twitter accuses Meta of illegally scraping Twitter’s following and followers data to train the Threads app’s AI model. Musk recently implemented limitations on the number of tweets users can see in a day to prevent companies from engaging in similar practices.
Twitter demands that Meta immediately ceases using any Twitter trade secrets or confidential information and preserves relevant documents for a potential legal dispute.
Meta swiftly responded to the accusations, with Meta’s communications director Andy Stone stating, “No one on the Threads engineering team is a former Twitter employee—that’s just not a thing.”
This is not the first time Mark Zuckerberg has faced allegations of repackaging others’ ideas into Meta platforms. Instagram Stories, inspired by Snapchat, and Instagram Reels, a response to the popularity of TikTok, are notable examples.
Whether Meta breached US copyright rules with the Threads app will likely be decided in court. The clash between Zuckerberg and Musk has officially begun, and the outcome of this legal battle remains to be seen.
