‘Competition is fine, cheating is not’: Twitter threatens legal action over Threads
Published on Jul 07, 2023 at 10:08 AM (UTC+4)
by Kate Bain
Last updated on Jul 10, 2023 at 1:18 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Kate Bain
Twitter has reportedly threatened legal action against Meta over its new ‘Twitter killer’ app, Threads.
Since it was launched on Thursday, more than 30 million people have already signed up for the ‘friendly alternative’.
Twitter boss Elon Musk has now reacted to the launch, saying “competition is fine, cheating is not”.
READ MORE! Zuckerberg launches new ‘Twitter killer’ and the reactions are hilarious
Twitter attorney Alex Spiro sent an official letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday, accusing the company of stealing Twitter’s trade secrets.
“Twitter has serious concerns that Meta has engaged in systematic, willful, and unlawful misappropriation of Twitter’s trade secrets and other intellectual property,” the letter read.
In the letter obtained by Semafor, it also alleged that Meta had employed dozens of former Twitter employees who “had and continue to have access to Twitter’s trade secrets and other highly confidential information”.
“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,” it says.
“Twitter reserves all rights, including, but not limited to, the right to seek both civil remedies and injunctive relief without further notice.”
Meta’s Andy Stone has since responded to the letter, telling Semafor “no one on the Threads engineering team is a former Twitter employee – that’s just not a thing”.
When the Meta app launched on Wednesday, ‘Threads’ started trending on Musk’s platform.
Even Mark Zuckerberg took to the platform for the first time in 11 years, appearing to troll Musk.
He posted an image of two Spidermans pointing at each other, suggesting a stand-off.
The reactions and memes were pretty funny to most, but Elon Musk didn’t take it so lightly.
“It is infinitely preferable to be attacked by strangers on Twitter than indulge in the false happiness of hide-the-pain Instagram,” he said, referring to the ‘friendly alternative’ marketing for Threads.
Threads followers
Threads is miles ahead of other platforms when it comes to reaching the million-follower mark.
Netflix took 3.5 years, Twitter took 2 years, and Facebook took 10 months to reach that milestone.
Meanwhile, Threads gained a million followers in less than two hours.
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Kate is Lead Editor, overseeing coverage across automotive, tech, and lifestyle content on the site. She has more than 10 years’ experience as a journalist and news editor, having worked across a range of major publications including News Corp, Daily Mail Australia, and Sky News. Kate holds a Bachelor of Business Management from University of Queensland and a Postgraduate Diploma in Journalism from Queensland University of Technology. She has been with Supercar Blondie since 2020 and played a key role in establishing supercarblondie.com as a leading automotive news destination.
