Twitter Threatens to Sue Meta After Rival App Threads Gains Traction

Twitter is considering legal action against Meta, the parent company of Facebook, following the launch of Meta’s new Twitter competitor, Threads, signaling Twitter’s view of the app as a significant rival.

In a letter sent to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg by Twitter’s attorney, it is alleged that Meta engaged in trade secret theft by hiring former Twitter employees.

The letter, authored by Alex Spiro, a lawyer representing Twitter owner Elon Musk, accuses Meta of “systematic, willful, and unlawful misappropriation of Twitter’s trade secrets and other intellectual property.”

Elon Musk responded to reports on the letter by tweeting, “Competition is fine, cheating is not.”
The letter further claims that Meta employed former Twitter employees who had retained confidential Twitter documents and devices and deliberately involved them in the development of Threads.

Spiro stated that Twitter intends to protect its intellectual property rights and demands that Meta cease using any Twitter trade secrets or highly confidential information.

Meta spokesperson Andy Stone dismissed the allegations, stating that no former Twitter employees are part of the Threads engineering team.

While Twitter has faced competition from other microblogging platforms, such as Mastodon and Bluesky, it has not threatened them with legal action.

Unlike its competitors, Threads has gained rapid popularity, with 30 million user sign-ups on its first day, and it currently holds the top spot as the number-one free app on the iOS App Store.

The legal threat may not necessarily lead to a lawsuit, but it could be a tactic to slow down Meta’s progress, according to law professor Carl Tobias.

Tobias suggests that lawyers often use threats to gauge the extent of their claims or to create complications for the opposing party, but the outcome is uncertain at this point.