Twitter is gearing up to sue Meta for the launch of the Threads app, which serves as a direct competitor to the micro-blogging social network. However, in a letter sent to Meta, a Twitter lawyer argues that the company has violated several intellectual property rights. It certainly looks like Elon Musk does not want any competition, especially at a time when he is attempting to make his latest and most expensive acquisition into a profit-generating entity.
Musk also took a direct jab at Meta’s Threads, stating that ‘competition is fine, cheating is not’
Just hours after Threads was officially launched, Semafor showed a letter sent by a Twitter lawyer named Alex Spiro, which was sent to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, accusing the company of the following.
“Dear Mr. Zuckerberg:
I write on behalf of X Corp., as successor in interest to Twitter, Inc. ("Twitter"). Based on recent reports regarding your recently launched "Threads" app, Twitter has serious concerns that Meta Platforms ("Meta") has engaged in systematic, willful, and unlawful misappropriation of Twitter's trade secrets and other intellectual property.”
Spiro also accused Meta of hiring dozens of former Twitter employees who possessed access to the social network’s trade secrets and other highly confidential information. The lawyer also alleged that Meta assigned those employees to develop Threads with the sole intent to use Twitter’s trade secrets and accelerate its own competing app, which meant that Meta was in violation of both state and federal law and the employees stationed at Meta.
Competition is fine, cheating is not
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 6, 2023
Meta’s communications director, Andy Stone, had informed Semafor that the accusations are baseless because no Threads engineer is a former Twitter employee, implying that the latest competitor was made from scratch and without the use of Twitter’s so-called trade secrets. Musk displayed his frustration when he put out a tweet above saying, ‘Competition is fine, cheating is not.’ What is strange about this whole development is that prior to the launch of Threads, other Twitter competitors have been unable to pick up steam, such as Mastodon and Bluesky, and Musk did not emit the same disapproval.
On Twitter, everyone's voice matters.
Whether you’re here to watch history unfold, discover REAL-TIME information all over the world, share your opinions, or learn about others -- on Twitter YOU can be real.
YOU built the Twitter community. 🙏👏 And that's irreplaceable. This…
— Linda Yaccarino (@lindayaX) July 6, 2023
This can mean that the Tesla founder may acknowledge Threads as a ‘real’ threat to Twitter. Zuckerberg’s previous update states that the platform now had 30 million users on the first day, dwarfing the competition. Whether Musk has a different opinion, Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino shows a different touch with the tweet given above.
It is unclear how the legal proceedings will hold up in court if a situation ever materializes into something like this, but it is likely that Musk will fall out of favor with the judge simply because Meta’s engineers made a proper competitor that happens to have more engagement on it than the rest of them.
News Source: Semafor
