Twitter has sent a letter to Threads, alleging that the new platform from Meta is a “copycat” app and has infringed upon Twitter’s intellectual property rights. However, in a departure from its previous approach, Twitter is still allowing links to Threads to be posted and shared.

Threads, a text-based app launched by Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, garnered attention as it allowed Instagram users to easily import their bios and followers’ lists. The app was quickly hailed as a potential “Twitter Killer” and attracted millions of users within hours. Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, celebrated this success while Elon Musk’s management of Twitter faced ongoing criticism.

Twitter’s response came in the form of a letter from their legal team addressed to Zuckerberg, accusing Meta of engaging in “systematic, willful, and unlawful misappropriation” of Twitter’s trade secrets and intellectual property. The letter also claimed that Meta had hired numerous former Twitter employees who had access to confidential information.

The letter further demanded that Meta cease using any Twitter trade secrets, refrain from crawling or scraping Twitter’s followers or following data, and preserve relevant documents. It included language commonly associated with potential litigation to enforce Twitter’s intellectual property rights.

According to a report by Max Tani at Semafor, Meta has dismissed Twitter’s accusations as baseless. A Meta source clarified that no one on the Threads engineering team is a former Twitter employee.

While the merits of Twitter’s claims remain to be determined, Tani noted that the letter signifies Threads as the most serious rival to Twitter thus far. Alternatives such as Post.News, Mastodon, and Bluesky have struggled to gain widespread traction and significant user bases, not even to mention Trump’s Truth Social, Parler, and other similar apps.

Meta possesses significant advantages in this battle, including ample financial resources, a technologically proficient staff capable of building a robust platform, and experience in stifling competition through successful copycat features. For instance, Instagram Stories impeded Snapchat’s growth, while Reels is currently competing with TikTok.

Interestingly, Musk has refrained from blocking mentions or links to Threads on Twitter, a tactic that Twitter had employed in the past against rival platforms. Last December, Twitter faced backlash for blocking links and promotions of accounts on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and others, even leading to account suspensions for users who posted such links.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)