Social media giant Twitter has sent a cease-and-desist letter to Meta, the parent company of Facebook, regarding their newly launched Threads app. The letter, received on July 6, raises concerns about the alleged misappropriation of trade secrets and intellectual property by Meta. It also accuses the app of scraping data from Twitter.
The letter, written by Alex Spiro, asserts that Twitter has serious reservations about what it considers a deliberate and unlawful misappropriation of its proprietary information. It further claims that Meta has hired numerous former Twitter employees who still have access to confidential data and trade secrets.
Addressing the allegations, Andy Stone, Meta's communications director, clarified that the Threads engineering team does not include any former Twitter employees. Despite this claim, the potential legal dispute between Twitter and Meta is expected to escalate, given the gravity of the accusations and the significance of the involved parties.
Meta's stock has experienced a surge following the launch of Threads, indicating investor confidence in the company's prospects.
Twitter's battle with Meta is further complicated by the progress of another competitor, Bluesky, spearheaded by Jack Dorsey. Bluesky recently announced an $8 million seed funding round and unveiled its first paid service through a blog post on July 5. Titled "Our Plan for a Sustainably Open Social Network," the post outlines Bluesky's long-term mission.