Twitter sends letter to Meta threatening to sue them over new Threads app
Topics: Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Social Media, Twitter, Threads
Ben Thompson
Featured Image Credit: Chesnot/Getty Images / David Ramos/Getty Images
Topics: Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Social Media, Twitter, Threads
Twitter has threatened to sue Meta over the Threads app, which has been touted as an alternative to the social media platform.
The social media mogul dropped Threads on 6 July, after previously dominating the social media landscape with Facebook, and later adding Instagram to his roster.
It's now available in more than 100 countries and has already received more than 10 million sign-ups.
The app shares a lot of similarities with Twitter, allowing users to post, share, like and follow other users, with parent company Meta explaining that the app aims to 'take what Instagram does best and expand that to text'.
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It even looks similar to Twitter; a smart move that will ensure new users won't struggle to navigate the platform and makes for an easier transition from Musk's app.
In a letter to Meta's CEO Mark Zuckerberg - obtained by Semafor - a lawyer for Twitter reportedly said that they had 'serious concerns' that Meta had 'engaged in systematic, willful and unlawful misappropriation of Twitter’s trade secrets and other intellectual property'.
Twitter's lawyer, Alex Spiro, continued: "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."
Threads is set to bring over users who have grown weary of Twitter since the South African tycoon became the CEO of the company.
What seemed to be the final straw for many tweeters was the recent announcement that users who didn't pay for the app would be limited in how many tweets they could read a day.
The Threads app serves as the latest saga in the rivalry between Musk and Zuckerberg, who have teased that they will face each other in a one-on-one fight.
Musk announced on Twitter that he'd be 'up for a cage fight' if his opponent agreed.
When Zuckerberg indicated he would be, it seemed like an agreement had been reached.
UFC president Dana White has also come out and said that the two are 'dead serious' about taking each other on.
White said: "Both guys are absolutely dead serious about this. They both want to do it. Mark Zuckerberg hit me up first and said, 'Is he serious?'
"And I said, 'I don't know, let me ask him,' and I asked him and he said, ''yeah, I'm dead serious'. It would break all pay-per-view records."
UNILAD has reached out to Twitter and Meta for comment.