Twitter is threatening to sue Meta after the latter launched its new rival Threads, as it believes the app to be a “copycat”.
Trade secret theft
On Wednesday, just hours after the launch of Threads, an attorney representing Twitter sent Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg a letter, accusing his company of stealing trade secrets by hiring former Twitter employees.
The letter stated that the company was engaging in “systematic, willful, and unlawful misappropriation of Twitter’s trade secrets and other intellectual property.”
Threats to Meta
A lawyer for Twitter, Alex Spiro wrote in the letter, “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.”
Hiring former Twitter employees
The letter accused Meta of hiring dozens of former Twitter employees who “had and continue to have access to Twitter’s trade secrets and other highly confidential information.”
It further said that these employees had “improperly retained Twitter documents and electronic devices” and that Meta “deliberately” involved them in developing Threads.
Meta’s reply
Andy Stone, Meta’s communications director, said that Twitter’s accusations are baseless.
“No one on the Threads engineering team is a former Twitter employee — that’s just not a thing,” he said.
How this could go
The legal threat may not make it to court but it could be a tactic to slow down Meta.
Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond said, “Sometimes lawyers, they threaten but don’t follow through. Or they see how far they can go. That may be the case, but I don’t know that for sure.
There may be some value to tying it up in litigation and complicating life for Meta.”
