Twitter issues big warning to Threads; says will sue for stealing trade secrets

Twitter is threatening to sue Instagram-powered Threads for the “systematic, willful, and unlawful misappropriation of Twitter’s trade secrets and intellectual property”.

Meta’s newest social media platform Threads just got a warning from Twitter over stealing company trade secrets. (REUTERS)

In a shocking turn of events, Meta's Instagram-powered social media platform Threads has received a warning from Twitter where it has alleged that the former has stolen trade secrets and intellectual property of the latter. As per reports, Twitter has expressed concerns over Meta's “systematic, willful, and unlawful misappropriation” of Twitter's confidential data and codes to build Threads.

The contents of a leaked email by Twitter to Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, has been obtained by Semafor, which states, “Based on the recent reports regarding your recently launched ‘Threads' app, Twitter has serious concerns that Meta Platforms (“Meta”) has engaged in systematic, willful, and unlawful misappropriation of Twitter's trade secrets and intellectual property”.

Twitter threatens to sue Twitter

The email was sent by Twitter lawyer Alex Spiro, who is also the personal lawyer of Elon Musk. Spiro has claimed Meta had hired “dozens” of former Twitter employees to build Threads, reports The Verge.

While these employees were hired shortly after Elon Musk took the seat at Twitter, the company maintains that many of them still had access to confidential information on the microblogging platform. The allegation is that Meta took advantage of this access and stole the trade secrets of the company.

Meta has responded to the allegations in a post on Threads. The company communications director Andy Stone said in a post, “To be clear: “No one on the Threads engineering team is a former Twitter employee — that's just not a thing.”

Elon Musk reacts

Musk has also reacted to the news of Twitter threatening legal action after an account posted about it. Reacting to it, the billionaire said, “Competition is fine, cheating is not”. 

The Elon Musk-Mark Zuckerberg rivalry saga

The rivalry between Twitter and Meta chief is not a new development. Ever since it was revealed that the latter was building a Twitter-like platform, the two have been at each other's throats, almost literally!

Musk took the first shot after Meta described Threads as “a platform that is sanely run”. In response, Musk tweeted, “I'm sure Earth can't wait to be exclusively under Zuck's thumb with no other options. At least it will be “sane”. Was worried there for a moment”.

Later, responding to a user who reminded Musk that Zuckerberg knows jiu-jitsu, he said, “I'm up for a cage match if he is lol”. Zuckerberg also participated in the banter and replied on his Instagram story with “Send me the location”.