Twitter has taken legal action against Meta, the parent company of Facebook, over its recently launched Threads platform. According to a report by US-based publication Semafor, Twitter’s lawyer, Alex Spiro, sent a letter to Mark Zuckerberg, the head of Meta, threatening to sue the company.
The Threads app, positioned as a friendly competitor to Twitter, gained an impressive 30 million users on its debut day, as announced by Zuckerberg. However, Twitter is accusing Meta of using its trade secrets and confidential information by hiring former Twitter employees who had access to such data.
Since being acquired by Elon Musk last year, Twitter has faced competition from platforms like Mastodon and Bluesky. The user interface of Threads bears a resemblance to Twitter’s microblogging platform, which raises concerns about the use of intellectual property.
Threads is being promoted as the text version of Meta’s popular photo-sharing platform, Instagram, and was made available in over 100 countries, including the US, Britain, Australia, Canada, and Japan. However, the app has faced criticism regarding data privacy issues and is notably unavailable in the European Union.
In response to the launch of Threads, Twitter’s CEO Linda Yaccarino took a swipe at Meta, emphasizing that the Twitter community cannot be duplicated. Yaccarino, appointed by Elon Musk as his successor, highlighted Twitter’s role in witnessing historical events, providing real-time information, and fostering a sense of community.
The rivalry between Musk and Zuckerberg has been ongoing, with the release of Meta’s new app adding another chapter to their competition. In the past, the two billionaires have even expressed a willingness to settle their differences by meeting in a fighting cage.
It remains to be seen how the legal battle between Twitter and Meta will unfold and whether it will have any impact on the future of Threads. Meanwhile, users and industry observers will closely watch the developments in this high-stakes clash between two tech giants.
