In a bold move, Twitter has sent a stern message to Meta’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg. The microblogging giant accuses Meta of creating a carbon copy of its platform, which they call ‘Threads.’ And how did they do it? Twitter alleges that it’s all thanks to the knowledge and expertise of former Twitter employees who now work at Meta.
Competition is fine, cheating is not
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 6, 2023
Elon Musk’s lawyer, Alex Spiro, put these concerns on paper. In a letter, he charges Meta deliberately and unlawfully using Twitter’s top-secret information. Meta has recruited quite several ex-Twitter staff over the past year. Twitter believes these individuals, who once had access to Twitter’s confidential information, have used this knowledge to speed up the development of Meta’s competing app, Threads.
The letter further states that despite shifting their workplace, these individuals still have a duty towards Twitter. It’s alleged that some have kept hold of Twitter documents and gadgets, which is against the rules.
Any social media monopoly is despair
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 6, 2023
In the letter, Twitter asserts its intention to uphold its unique ideas and information rights. It demands that Meta stop using any secret or confidential Twitter details immediately. The social media giant warns that it will go after both civil solutions and court-ordered prohibitions to protect its intellectual property from any further use by Meta.
Any social media monopoly is despair
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 6, 2023
In addition, the letter serves as a formal request for Meta to keep all documents that could play a role in any future disagreements involving Twitter, Meta, and the former Twitter staff now working for Meta. These documents include everything from the hiring details of the said employees to any interaction between these individuals and any Meta representative.
A closed source, algorithm-only system means that manipulation of what information people see is essentially undetectable
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 6, 2023
Not one to stay quiet, Musk took to Twitter to voice his opinion. He simply tweeted, “Competition is fine; cheating is not.”
Sometimes I forget to switch accounts when I post pic.twitter.com/mGvPHkeNlJ
— Elon Musk (Parody) (@ElonMuskAOC) July 8, 2023
Despite the controversy, Meta boasts about the success of Threads. The new platform attracted a whopping 30 million signups in just a day. But not all is rosy. Some users say they experienced excessive censorship when they signed up.
