Threads: Twitter Threatens Legal Action Against Meta’s App
Twitter has announced it is considering legal action against Meta over its fast-growing rival app Threads.
Threads, which was launched to millions on July 5, is similar to Twitter and has been pitched by Meta bosses as a “friendly” alternative.
Elon Musk said “competition is fine, cheating is not” – but Meta denied claims in a legal letter that ex-Twitter staff helped create Threads.
According to Meta, more than 70 million people have signed up for the new app.
Twitter has an estimated 350 million users, according to Statista.
According to an SEC filing from 2013, it took Twitter four years to build the same number of users that Threads gained in a day – though Twitter grew its userbase from scratch, while Threads was able to tap into the pre-existing two billion monthly users Meta says Instagram has.US copyright law does not protect ideas, so for Twitter to be successful in court it would have to prove that its own intellectual property, such as programming code, was taken.
In a move first reported by news outlet Semafor, Twitter attorney Alex Spiro sent a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on July 5 accusing Meta of “systematic, wilful, and unlawful misappropriation of Twitter’s trade secrets and other intellectual property” to create Threads.
Specifically, Alex Spiro alleged 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 says.
“Twitter reserves all rights, including, but not limited to, the right to seek both civil remedies and injunctive relief without further notice.”
Elon Musk said that “competition is fine, cheating is not” in response to a post on Twitter that referred to the legal letter.
On Threads, Meta spokesperson Andy Stone posted that “no one on the Threads engineering team is a former Twitter employee – that’s just not a thing”.
Both Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg have acknowledged the rivalry over Threads, which is linked to Instagram but works as a standalone app.
As it launched in 100 countries, Mark Zuckerberg broke more than 11 years of silence on Twitter to post a highly popular meme of two nearly identical Spider-Man figures pointing at each other, indicating a stand-off.
Shortly after, and as the word “Threads” trended globally on his platform, Elon Musk said: “It is infinitely preferable to be attacked by strangers on Twitter, than indulge in the false happiness of hide-the-pain Instagram.”