Twitter is now threatening to take legal action against $META over its newly launched text-based app, Threads. 🧵
The social media giant accuses Meta of hiring former Twitter employees to create a “copycat” application and misappropriating Twitter’s trade secrets and intellectual property. Twitter’s lawyer, Alex Spiro, sent a cease-and-desist letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, demanding that the company immediately stop using Twitter trade secrets.
Spiro claims that Meta assigned former Twitter employees to develop Threads with the intent of using Twitter’s intellectual property to accelerate its development, which he believes violates both state and federal law. However, Meta’s communications director, Andy Stone, has denied these allegations, stating that no former Twitter employees are working on Threads. 🛑
This legal clash between Twitter and Meta signals a significant challenge to Twitter’s dominance in the social media landscape. Since Elon Musk acquired Twitter and implemented controversial changes, including fewer content moderation rules and a paid verification process, alternatives have struggled to gain mainstream traction.
However, Threads may pose a more serious threat due to Meta’s vast resources, its built-in network of billions of Instagram users, and its track record of successfully adding features like Instagram Stories and Reels.
Threads is marching towards 100 million sign-ups in a little over a day. While Twitter’s accusations against Meta raise concerns about intellectual property rights, the battle between these two social media giants could reshape the industry and potentially divert users and ad dollars away from Twitter. 💸