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Twitter says Threads stole its IP, sends legal threat to Facebook parent Meta

Press Releases Crypto News CryptoSlate Twitter says Threads stole its IP, sends legal threat to Facebook parent Meta

Twitter has sent a legal warning to its competitor Meta, Semafor said on July 6.

Meta — the parent company of Facebook and Instagram — previously launched its Threads app. The product has been widely described as Twitter competitor or “Twitter killer,” something that Twitter itself has taken note of.

Alex Spiro, a lawyer for Twitter, sent a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg following the platform’s launch. That letter calls Threads a “copycat” app and says:

“Based on recent reports regarding your recently launched ‘Threads’ app, Twitter has serious concerns that Meta … has engaged in systematic, willful, and unlawful misappropriation of Twitter’s trade secrets and other intellectual property.”

Spiro also contended that Meta deliberately hired numerous former Twitter employees. Those employees, Spiro asserted, utilized trade secrets and inside information to advance the development of Threads. Those actions would violate both state and federal law, as well as the employees’ ongoing obligations to Twitter, Spiro said.

Spiro’s letter added that Twitter is determined to “strictly enforce its intellectual property rights” and demanded that Meta cease using any Twitter-derived trade secrets or confidential information. Spiro warned that Twitter reserves the right to legal action, including both civil remedies and injunctive relief, to prevent further use of its IP.

Other involved individuals have also commented on the matter. Elon Musk, CTO and executive chair of Twitter, implicitly supported the legal threat in a July 6 tweet. He wrote: “competition is fine, cheating is not.”

Meta’s communications director, Andy Stone, denied the claims. He explicitly stated to Semafor that no former Twitter employees are on the Threads team.