After the release of Meta’s new text-based social media app, Threads, Twitter has sent legal documentation threatening to sue the new company for using “trade secrets” in the creation of Threads.
Mark Zuckerberg received the legal letter from one of Twitter’s company lawyers, Alex Spiro. Spiro claims that Meta is “systematic, willful, and unlawful misappropriation of Twitter’s trade secrets and other intellectual property.” The letter also accuses Meta of hiring former Twitter employees, creating a source for the “trade secrets” they allegedly use. A source from Meta has confirmed to reporters that no Threads employee was ever employed by Twitter.
The letter continues on to essentially ask Meta to cease & desist on Threads due to an encroachment of Twitter’s intellectual property rights. It states: “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 . . . Twitter reserves all rights, including, but not limited to, the right to seek both civil remedies and injunctive relief without further notice to prevent any further retention, disclosure, or use of its intellectual property by Meta.”
Based on this letter, Elon Musk & the rest of the Twitter leads are clearly bothered by the launch of Threads. Depending on how confident Meta is that Threads has been created entirely originally, a lawsuit could certainly be plausible. How that would truly affect either social-media platform is unknown.