In a development first reported by news website Semafor, Twitter has threatened a potential lawsuit against Meta over Meta's new Threads app.
A lawyer for Twitter sent a letter to Meta, addressed to Mark Zuckerberg, alleging that Meta deliberately hired new employees who had worked with Twitter's trade secrets, and knowingly assigned those new hires to work on Meta's Threads app, which launched on Wednesday.
The lawyer wrote that "Twitter has serious concerns that Meta Platforms has engaged in systematic, willful and unlawful misappropriation of Twitter's trade secrets and other intellectual property." The letter warns that Twitter "intends to strictly enforce its intellectual property rights," suggesting a lawsuit over the issue is a distinct possibility.
Meta spokesperson Andy Stone wrote in a post on Threads that "No one on the Threads engineering team is a former Twitter employee — that’s just not a thing."
Threads app netted over 30 million users in less than 24 hours
The Meta app that is similar to Twitter is now available globally, except in the European Union.
Threads bears some resemblances to Twitter's interface. Usernames are preceded by an @ symbol; and the new app's like, reply and repost features will be familiar to anyone who uses Twitter.
Threads has built a user base of more than 30 million in its first day of availability, according to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Users must have an active Instagram account to sign up.
