Twitter has publicly accused Meta Platforms of stealing trade secrets to build its new microblogging site, Threads. In particular, Elon Musk’s company claims that Meta would have hired dozens of former Twitter employees, many of whom would have “improperly maintained” devices and documents from the company of origin, to assign them “deliberately” to work on the creation of its new platform of social media, Threads, and asked to stop using the confidential information so unlawfully acquired.
The indictment did not provide concrete details about the employees involved in the creation of Threads, which millions of users signed up for within hours of its launch. But the message — sent the same day Threads opened to the public — shows Musk’s level of concern given Meta’s user base and technical prowess.
Meta spokesperson Andy Stone responded to the allegations with a Threads post in which he claimed that no one on the site’s engineering team is a former Twitter employee.
Meta launched Threads in July, and immediately presented itself as the first real threat to Twitter, in crisis due to the abandonment of many users and advertisers due to the controversial management of billionaire Elon Musk, who bought the microblogging site last year.
Threads, as well as many other social media sites that have popped up in recent months, share a certain resemblance to Twitter, but it’s difficult, according to experts, to prove the violation of trade secrets. To be successful in a dispute, you must demonstrate that a competitor has acquired economically valuable information the secrecy of which must have been protected by reasonable measures. However, determining what qualifies as a reasonable measure is a complex matter, so blocking access to information could make it very difficult to share it among a company’s employees. Usually, in these cases it is easier to reach an agreement between the contending companies, given that neither of the parties would like the case to be publicly discussed at length.