Elon Musk Stresses Importance of Fair Competition as Twitter Considers Legal Action Against Meta’s ‘Threads’ App

Elon Musk had recently acquired Twitter for 44 Billion dollars last year

In a recent development, Twitter has issued a legal warning to Meta, the parent company of Facebook, regarding its new text-based app called Threads. According to a letter obtained by Semafor, Alex Spiro, an attorney representing Twitter, accused Meta of employing former Twitter employees to develop a “copycat” app, thereby allegedly infringing upon Twitter’s trade secrets and intellectual property.

Since its launch on Wednesday, Meta’s Threads app has witnessed an impressive surge in user sign-ups, reaching tens of millions. The app, created by Meta’s Instagram team, arrives at a time when users seek alternatives to Twitter, seeking respite from Elon Musk’s outspoken influence since he acquired the platform for $44 billion last year.

Meta’s spokesperson, Andy Stone, responded to Spiro’s letter, stating that none of the individuals on the Threads engineering team are former Twitter employees, dismissing the allegations made. Despite this, Spiro emphasized Twitter’s intention to strictly enforce its intellectual property rights and mentioned the possibility of seeking legal remedies, marking the letter as a formal notice to Meta to preserve relevant documents for a potential future dispute.

Twitter Vs Threads 🤣#threadsapp #ElonMusk pic.twitter.com/QY1dE6YLDq

— Startup Pakistan (@Startup___pk) July 7, 2023

The Associated Press reached out to both Spiro and Twitter for further comments, but Twitter’s response came in the form of a poop emoji, its automated reply to media inquiries. While Musk himself has not directly addressed the legal action, he has responded humorously to comments regarding the Threads app, suggesting that it was created using the copy and paste function.

Although Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino has not publicly commented on the letter, she seemingly alluded to Threads’ launch in a tweet, emphasizing that while imitations may arise, the unique Twitter community cannot be replicated.

Despite the challenges posed by Meta’s new app, industry analysts speculate that it could pose a significant threat to Twitter, considering the initial excitement and impressive download figures. However, success is not guaranteed, as Meta has a history of launching standalone apps that were later discontinued. Additionally, Threads is still in its early stages, and only time will reveal its true impact.