Twitter threatens legal action against Meta over Threads: report
New York (AP): Twitter has threatened legal action against Meta over its new, text-based app called Threads, according to a letter obtained by Semafor.
In a Wednesday letter addressed to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Alex Spiro, an attorney representing Twitter, accused Meta of unlawfully using Twitter's trade secrets and other intellectual property by hiring former Twitter employees to create a "copycat" app.
Since launching Threads Wednesday night, Meta's new app has collected tens of millions of sign ups. The app, which was created by the company's Instagram team, arrives at a time when many are looking for Twitter alternatives to escape Elon Musk's raucous oversight of the platform since acquiring it last year for USD 44 billion.
Meta spokesperson Andy Stone responded to the report of Spiro's letter on Threads Thursday afternoon, writing, "no one on the Threads engineering team is a former Twitter employee that's just not a thing".
In the letter, which Semafor first reported on Thursday, Spiro said that Twitter "intends to strictly enforce its intellectual property rights" and noted the company's right to seek civil remedies or injunctive relief. He added that the letter marked a "formal notice" for Meta to preserve documents relevant for a potential dispute between the companies.
The Associated Press reached out to Spiro and Twitter on Thursday for further information. Twitter responded to an email seeking comment with a poop emoji, its standard automated response to reporters.
Musk hasn't directly tweeted about the possibility of legal action, but he has replied to several snarky takes on the Threads launch. The Twitter owner responded to one tweet suggesting that Meta's app was built largely through the use of the copy and paste function, with a laughing emoji.
Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino has also not publicly commented on Wednesday's letter, but seemingly appeared to address Threads' launch in a Thursday tweet.
"We're often imitated -- but the Twitter community can never be duplicated," Yaccarino wrote.
Still, some analysts say Meta's new app could be a significant headache for Twitter pointing to the excitement surrounding Threads' launch and impressive download numbers so far.
Success for the app isn't guaranteed, of course. Industry watchers point to Meta's track record of starting standalone apps that were later shut down, for example, and note that Threads is still in its early days so time will tell.
Meta's new app has also raised data privacy concerns. While Threads launched in more than 100 countries Wednesday, it is notably unavailable in the European Union, which has strict data privacy rules.
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Situation tense outside Udaipur palace after Vishvaraj Singh denied entry over royal family feud
Jaipur (PTI): BJP MLA Vishvaraj Singh and his supporters were denied entry into City Palace, Udaipur, hours after he was anointed the titular head of the erstwhile royal family of Mewar on Monday.
The situation outside the palace was tense with a heavy deployment of police to prevent any untoward incident. Stones were reportedly pelted from inside the palace.
Vishvaraj Singh was anointed as the head of the erstwhile royal family in Chittorgarh fort on Monday morning, following the demise of his father Mahendra Singh Mewar earlier this month.
However, a cloud of a feud between Mahendra Singh Mewar and his estranged younger brother Arvind Singh Mewar -- who are descendants of Rajput king Maharana Pratap -- hung over the occasion.
Vishvaraj Singh's uncle Arvind Singh issued a public notice against the newly annointed royal family head's planned visit to the Eklingnath temple of the family deity and the City Palace in Udaipur as part of rituals of the royal ceremony.
Both the temple and the palace are under the control of Arvind Singh who is the chairman and managing trustee of Shree Eklingji Trust in Udaipur.
Policemen were deployed outside the gates of the City Palace to maintain law and order after Arvind Singh's notices were issued in the morning.
His notices published in local newspapers warned of legal action for trespass or damage to the property.
After the ceremony in Chittorgarh fort, Vishvaraj Singh and his supporters reached Udaipur in the evening to visit the City Palace and the Eklingnathji temple but they could not enter due to heavy police deployment.
Vishvaraj Singh's supporters tried to cross the barricading but the police stopped them.
Senior police officials, Udaipur collector Arvind Poswal and SP Yogesh Goyal spoke to Vishvaraj Singh and his supporters and tried to resolve the issue. They also spoke to Arvind Singh's son but the talks remained inconclusive.
Given the tense situation, police have sent a report to the additional district magistrate to appoint a receiver for the area in the City Palace from Bali Pol to Dhuni. Vishvaraj Singh had planned to visit Dhuni for a darshan after his anointment.
After being denied entry, the Nathdwara MLA went to Jagdish Chowk with his supporters, barely a few metres away from the City Palace.
