Twitter threatens to sue Meta over the new Threads app

[brooklynite]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by Omaha Steve (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum).

Source: Engadget

Twitter isn't exactly happy about Meta's Threads app, a new text-based Instagram sibling. As Semafor reports, Twitter has threatened legal action against Meta, accusing it of poaching former employees and unlawfully misappropriating trade secrets and intellectual property.

“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,” Alex Spiro, Elon Musk's personal lawyer, wrote in a letter to Meta. “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.”

Spiro, who is acting on behalf of Twitter parent X Corp, claims that Meta has hired dozens of ex-Twitter employees over the last year. He claimed the company "deliberately assigned" them to work on Threads "with the specific intent that they use Twitter's trade secrets and other intellectual property in order to accelerate development of Meta's competing app." He argued this violates state and federal laws as well as those employees' obligations to their former employer. In addition, Spiro said Meta is prohibited from scraping Twitter data relating to who people follow.

Meta has refuted Spiro's claims. “No one on the Threads engineering team is a former Twitter employee — that’s just not a thing," Meta communications director Andy Stone wrote on (where else?) Threads.

Read more: https://www.engadget.com/twitter-threatens-to-sue-meta-over-the-new-threads-app-191141961.html

[SunSeeker]

1. "Poaching former employees"?! You can't "poach" them if they don't work for you, Musk!

You are the dumbass that fired 75% of your workforce, making Twitter a mess and handing Zuckerberg this opportunity on a platter.

[Rebl2]

3. Exactly

Supposedly though, Zuckerberg has no former twitter employees.

[Native]

14. "On the engineering team."

[JohnSJ]

11. It depends if they signed a non disclosure agreement, and what it says. I think Twitter will have

a problem proving Meta’s code is based on Twitters code

[SunSeeker]

19. That's still not poaching. That is a breach of NDA--if there was an NDA, and if breached.

Considering the haphazard way Musk fired people -- en masse, often with a tweet or email -- it is unlikely he had them sign NDAs before leaving. It they had NDAs, it was with the former owners of Twitter. It is unlear how well those carry over to Musk's Twitter, and whether they were violated. And yes, I think Musk will have a problem proving Meta's code is based on Twitter's code. Threads is basically a utility of Instagram.

[JohnSJ]

20. I agree. Whether the NDAs are transferable to the new owner depends. In companies I have worked

for, when a new company took over, I had to sign new NDAs with the new company

[Beastly Boy]

2. One word: POPCORN!

I am running out!

[SouthernDem4ever]

21. Here's some

[Beastly Boy]

29. Mmmm-Mmmm... Good!

[HuskyOffset]

4. Hey Elon, why don't you go ahead . . .

. . . and melt, you butthurt snowflake.

[Mawspam2]

5. Phony Stark has a Trump problem.

Phony also dosen't pay his lawyers. Maybe Alina Habba will take the case. Lin Wood just gave up his bar license rather than be disbarred.

[Wonder Why]

6. I hope they both go bankrupt filing lawsuits against each other and Muck and Zuckerbrain

have a fight to the death.

[Kennah]

9. Celebrity Death Match: Social Media King Edition

[Rural_Progressive]

26. Nerd Duel

Pocket protectors and slide rules at 10 paces

[Blue Owl]

7. Why don't they join forces as Muskerberg?

[Kennah]

10. Zucherusk? Sounds like an area in Siberia.

[PlutosHeart]

15. Good one.

[JohnSJ]

8. They are saying Meta lacks the resources to develop their own twitter like platform? Prove it.

I am pretty sure the code developed by Meta is unique enough to demonstrate it isn’t Twitter’s intellectual property.

[moniss]

12. Musk

and his "social media adventure" are circling the drain. It would be great to see Bezos start an app/service also. I can't stand any of the the three but it is enjoyable to watch the scum fight among themselves. It will be interesting to see what the advertisers do. Given the size of the Threads sign-up so far it would be foolish not to take some of your ad dollars away from Musk and go over to the one run by the almost life-like MZ.

[orthoclad]

24. Let them eat each other

then move the "town square" to a non-private-owner model. Like Masto. It's like having the villain banker own the town square in It's A Wonderful Life.

Dis vs DeS. Musk vs Zuck. It's like watching Godzilla vs Ghidra. Late stage monster movies, er, capitalism.

[Warpy]

13. Oh, save your money, Elon

Threads looks like a bigger bow-wow than Twitter is, all the worse features of Twitter combined with the overly predatory nature of Farcebook.

[RKP5637]

17. Please see #16. I don't get why people would trust Mark Zuckerberg with Threads? n/t

[RKP5637]

16. After all of the Facebook scenarios, why would people trust Mark Zuckerberg with Threads? n/t

[orthoclad]

23. Zuckbook gave Trump the 2016 election

with micro-targeted ads - their main source of income - in conjunction with the Mercers' Cambridge Analytica. Illegal selling of user information. Just enough to tip the electoral college in key locations.

Meta is evil. Like Musk, who wants to be the next kingmaker.

[kimbutgar]

18. Why am I not shocked that people who were fired by Musk would go over to another

Company and develop a new product to compete with Twitter. Musk was stupid because he let those people go without them signing a non compete agreement.

Ha ha Muskrat!

[orthoclad]

22. Apartheid thinking

Workers are "property". Past and future.
Never forget that the Musk money came from apartheid mines in South Africa.
Slaveowner mentality. Comes natural to Rand/Nazi hybrids.

[Rural_Progressive]

27. Not according to him

Heard an interview where he claims this was all untrue and that his family were just middle class people who never gave him anything.

[orthoclad]

28. Of course

He wants to promote his "self-made" image, when all he's ever done is buy other people's work.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musk_family
"Errol Musk (born 1946),[8] South African electromechanical engineer, pilot, sailor, and consultant; father of Elon Musk.[9] Errol was an engineer and property developer in South Africa, and part owner of an emerald mine in Zambia.[10]"

Just another middle-class "property developer" and mineowner.

[IronLionZion]

25. Introducing Threads: A New Way to Share With Text

If any DUers are curious to see it

https://about.fb.com/news/2023/07/introducing-threads-new-app-text-sharing/

I'm not pro-Zuck but I really hate Musk

[ificandream]

30. Given the way Musk has mucked up Twitter, I'm happy to see a competitor ... or two or three.

I hope he's red as a beet.

[Omaha Steve]

31. After a review by forum hosts, locking........

Predictable and not yet important.