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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BJP names one more candidate for April 9 Puducherry polls
New Delhi (PTI): The BJP on Sunday named one more candidate for the April 9 Assembly polls in Puducherry, fielding M Arulmurugan from Karaikal South.
On Saturday, the BJP had released a list of nine candidates for the polls, fielding Home Minister A Namassivayam for re-election from Mannadipet and outgoing Speaker Embalam R Selvam from Manavely.
The ruling AINRC and the BJP-AIADMK combine on Friday reached an agreement for the Assembly polls in the Union territory, where the AINRC will contest 16 seats, and the BJP the remaining 14.
The arrangements were finalised after Puducherry Chief Minister and AINRC leader N Rangasamy held talks with BJP leader and Union minister Mansukh Mandaviya at a private hotel here on Friday.
In the 2021 Assembly elections, the AINRC contested 16 seats and won 10, the BJP contested nine seats and won six, while the AIADMK contested five and drew a blank.
The single-phase polling for the 30 seats in Puducherry will be held on April 9, and the results will be declared on May 4.
