Twitter threatens to sue Meta over Threads app

Musk claims Meta poached employees...after he fired them

Twitter is threatening to take legal actions against Meta over its new Threads app, a social media platform it sees as a direct competitor.

Meta launched Threads as a new companion app for Instagram on Wednesday. It closely resembles Twitter and other text-based social media platforms.

Just hours after the launch of Threads Alex Spiro, a lawyer representing Twitter, penned a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

The letter accuses Meta of engaging in the deliberate and "unlawful misappropriation of Twitter's trade secrets and other intellectual property."

Spiro specifically claims that Meta had recruited several former Twitter employees who possessed and even currently have access to Twitter's trade secrets and other confidential information.

The letter alleges that this insider knowledge played a crucial role in Meta's development of the Threads app, which Spiro referred to as a "copycat" product.

"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," Spiro wrote in a letter first reported by Semafor.

"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."

Meta spokesperson Andy Stone wrote Thursday (ironically, on Threads): "No one on the Threads engineering team is a former Twitter employee — that's just not a thing."

While new Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino has refrained from making a public statement regarding the letter, she appeared to address the launch of Threads.

"We're often imitated — but the Twitter community can never be duplicated," Yaccarino tweeted.

In response to a tweet discussing the potential legal action against Meta, Elon Musk replied, stating, "Competition is fine, cheating is not."

Analysts believe that Meta's latest offering, which has already racked up tens of millions of users, could pose a substantial challenge for Twitter.

Meta, which has the resources to invest significant time and capital in any legal contest, has been able to leverage its extensive network of existing Instagram users in the launch of Threads.

According to the firm, Threads has already garnered over 70 million sign-ups.

Threads is specifically targeting individuals who are actively seeking alternatives to Twitter, due to the controversial changes implemented since Musk's acquisition of the platform last year.

According to Sarah Kunst, MD at venture capital firm Cleo Capital, Threads has the potential to provide a "brand-safe environment" for current Instagram advertisers.

Kunst suggests that these advertisers may be willing to allocate some of their budget to Threads to gauge its effectiveness and impact.

Musk sues law firm

In a parallel development, Elon Musk has filed a lawsuit against the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, seeking to recover a portion of the $90 million fee Twitter paid to the firm.

The majority of this payment was transferred shortly before Musk assumed control of the social media company.

Wachtell Lipton played a crucial role in assisting Twitter's board in finalising the $44 billion deal after Elon Musk had initially considered backing out of the agreement last year.

The lawsuit was filed by X Corp, Twitter's parent company, in San Francisco Superior Court.

It alleges that Wachtell Lipton took advantage of a corporate client that was being managed by "lame duck fiduciaries" who had lost their motivation to prioritise Twitter's best interests.

As per the court documents [pdf], Wachtell Lipton initially billed invoices totalling just under $18 million.

However, it is stated that an "incredibly accelerated" success fee agreement was reached, resulting in the grand total of $90 million.

X Corp is seeking the reimbursement of the success fee, claiming that the contract under which it was paid is unenforceable and violates both Wachtell Lipton's and Twitter's former leadership's fiduciary duties, as well as California law.