Twitter has threatened legal action against Meta over its new text-based app called Threads, which has drawn tens of millions of users since launching this week as a rival to Elon Musk’s social media platform.
Alex Spiro, an attorney representing Elon Musk‘s company, accused accused Meta of unlawfully using their trade secrets and other intellectual property by hiring some of their former employees who “had and continue to have access to the company’s trade secrets and other highly confidential information; that these employees owe ongoing obligations to the company ; and that many of these employees have improperly retained confidential documents and electronic devices,” to create a “copycat” app.
However, Meta spokesperson Andy Stone wrote Thursday on Threads: “No one on the Threads engineering team is a former Twitter employee, that’s just not a thing.”
The billionaires’ battle lines were drawn after Mark Zuckerberg launched his “kind” rival to Elon Musk’s increasingly chaotic Twitter.
The move ramps up the tensions between the social media giants after Threads debuted Wednesday, targeting those who are seeking out alternatives to Twitter amid unpopular changes Musk has made to the platform since buying it last year for $44 billion.
Threads, a “text-based conversation app” which bears a strong resemblance to its established rival, attracted an estimated 30 million users within 12 hours of its UK and US launch.
Twitter rival app Threads
Some analysts say Meta’s new offering, billed as a text-based version of the photo-sharing app Instagram, could be a significant headache for Twitter — pointing to the excitement surrounding Threads’ launch and impressive download numbers so far.
But success isn’t guaranteed. Industry watchers point to Meta’s track record of starting standalone apps that were later shut down and note that Threads is still in its early days.
Besides some glitches and gripes about missing features, Meta’s new app also has raised data privacy concerns. While Threads launched in more than 100 countries, it is notably unavailable in the European Union, which has strict data privacy rules.
