“Competition is fine, cheating is not”; Twitter to consider legal action against Meta Threads

An estimated 30 million users downloaded Meta’s rival to Twitter, Threads, upon its release on Apple Store and Google Play yesterday, as the platform eschews a 280 character limit for a 500-word limit and allows 5 minutes of video footage to be uploaded rather than Twitter near two and a half minutes. To top it all off, the seamless transition from an Instagram account to Threads has helped with an uptick of users, with questions (on Threads) jokingly asking if social media teams of businesses have gotten the hang of it yet.

For all the joy, jokes and limitless post reading we’re having however, Twitter CEO Elon Musk seems unusually flustered for a change with his response to Threads, with reports that there might be some potential litigation arising from the popularity of Mark Zuckerberg’s new platform.

The litigious aspect was first reported by Semafor, who stated that Twitter attorney Alex Spiro sent a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday accusing Meta of "systematic, wilful, and unlawful misappropriation of Twitter's trade secrets and other intellectual property" to create Threads. 

In particular, Twitter’s attorney alleges that Meta had hired dozens of former Twitter employees who "had and continue to have access to Twitter's trade secrets and other highly confidential information" that ultimately helped Meta develop what he termed the "copycat" Threads app.

"Twitter intends to strictly enforce its intellectual property rights, and demands that Meta take immediate steps to stop using any Twitter trade secrets or other highly confidential information," the letter stated. "Twitter reserves all rights, including, but not limited to, the right to seek both civil remedies and injunctive relief without further notice."

Taking to Twitter and responding to a post regarding the legal letter, Musk - normally one to quip in times like these - replied that “competition is fine, cheating is not,” with regards to the potential of “industry secrets” being leaked by former Twitter employees to help bolster the first-week growth of Threads.

But that allegation was addressed by Meta spokesperson Andy Stone, taking to the new platform to write that “no one on the Threads engineering team is a former Twitter employee - that's just not a thing".