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Twitter is threatening to sue Meta over Threads

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21–30 of 105 posts

Re: Twitter is threatening to sue Meta over Threads

#21
An entirely predictable turn of events. Next up:

- The lawsuit is never actually filed. Turns out just like Delaware (and unlike the SEC), California courts aren't going to bend to Musk's will.

- Twitter continues to bleed users and advertisers. Musk continues to double and triple down on his failed policies.

- Musk declares that this was his intention all along with the purchase, and killing Twitter was a "5D chess move". His fans eat it up.

Re: Twitter is threatening to sue Meta over Threads

#22

This is literally one of the worst moves Twitter could have made to combat Threads or any of their copies. They're literally giving more eyes and coverage to Threads and painting them as a real contender.

- The entire Zuck fight saga.

- Limiting access to Twitter.

- Tweeting incessantly about the Threads launch.

- Threatening to sue Meta.

Musk can't stay out of the limelight, for better or worse, and in this case it is definitely for the worse. Threads would have had a tiny fraction of the hype it does had it not been for his antics these last few weeks.

Re: Twitter is threatening to sue Meta over Threads

#23

In a similar vain is there any risk to Lemmy or Mastodon? Did any current or former Twitter or Reddit employees contribute to Lemmy, Mastodon or the other open source alternatives to Twitter and Reddit? If so would they be a target for big corporations like Twitter and Reddit to pursue ?

Unless someone can prove there was proprietary code involved (which there wasn't) none of them are under any threat from anyone.

Re: Twitter is threatening to sue Meta over Threads

#24
post #18

Despite this bone-headed move by Twitter, my question is: does this pose anti-trust problems for Meta? Meta having a monopoly on all forms of social media does seem pretty bad to me. I guess “monopoly” has a specific definition, but by having Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and the new Twitter, one company will control the majority of normal peoples’ communication online.

Not in the US, which has long abandoned the pretense of antitrust enforcement, but this is exactly why they haven't launched threads in the EU.

Re: Twitter is threatening to sue Meta over Threads

#25
post #18

Despite this bone-headed move by Twitter, my question is: does this pose anti-trust problems for Meta? Meta having a monopoly on all forms of social media does seem pretty bad to me. I guess “monopoly” has a specific definition, but by having Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and the new Twitter, one company will control the majority of normal peoples’ communication online.

It seems like it should (imho), but according to current law I doubt it. We haven't really updated that for network effects. Unless they start abusing their monopoly in an anti-competitive way (eg requiring advertisers to not advertise on other social networks, just Meta) I think they're fine legally.

Re: Twitter is threatening to sue Meta over Threads

#26
post #14

>Spiro accused Meta of hiring dozens of former Twitter employees who “had and continue to have access to Twitter’s trade secrets and other highly confidential information.” So you fire 80% of your workforce claiming they're dead weight and completely unnecessary, while simultaneously suing their new employer because apparently they were vital cogs who somehow "continue to have access to trade secrets"? So vital you'r…

My question is – what trade secrets does Twitter even have that Meta didn't already have the existing infrastructure for, or competency to build themselves (probably better)?

Re: Twitter is threatening to sue Meta over Threads

#27
post #14

>Spiro accused Meta of hiring dozens of former Twitter employees who “had and continue to have access to Twitter’s trade secrets and other highly confidential information.” So you fire 80% of your workforce claiming they're dead weight and completely unnecessary, while simultaneously suing their new employer because apparently they were vital cogs who somehow "continue to have access to trade secrets"? So vital you'r…

The firing is irrelevant. Noncompetes are unenforceable. It would be the exact same outcome if all of them voluntarily decided to leave Twitter and join Meta the same day. You have to prove to a court that these employees had access to some proprietary Twitter IP which they took to Meta and used to build Threads, which is not happening.

Re: Twitter is threatening to sue Meta over Threads

#28

Between this and Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino's weird tweet about how great Twitter is ( https://twitter.com/lindayacc/status/1676965566597464065 ), the arrival of Threads is definitely an existential threat for Twitter.

> the arrival of Threads is definitely an existential threat for Twitter

I had a similar thought when I joined Threads last night and within 30 seconds saw the accounts of Adam Schefter, Adrian Wojnarowski, and Shams Charania all actively posting.

If you follow NFL and NBA news you'll know these names but for anybody that doesn't, these insider accounts are firmly at the center of the NFL and NBA breaking news universe and for going on a decade now Twitter was where you went to follow them.

What Threads has done is break that monopoly Twitter had on this sort of thing. It gives regular users a clean, familiar, functional, working UI with a simple onboard process and it gives high-profile accounts a stable platform, a verified badge, and a boatload of users.

Could Twitter survive if it was no longer the epicenter of North American sports discussion? Probably, but it would be a big loss and would signal to other communities on there that Twitter's expiration date is rapidly approaching.

Re: Twitter is threatening to sue Meta over Threads

#29
post #14

>Spiro accused Meta of hiring dozens of former Twitter employees who “had and continue to have access to Twitter’s trade secrets and other highly confidential information.” So you fire 80% of your workforce claiming they're dead weight and completely unnecessary, while simultaneously suing their new employer because apparently they were vital cogs who somehow "continue to have access to trade secrets"? So vital you'r…

> ....former Twitter employees....continue to have access to Twitter’s trade secrets.

I don't think I've ever seen anyone admit to major organizational failings like that. I haven't worked for a company in at least 15 years where every single bit of access I had wasn't revoked within minutes.

When I last changed jobs in 2021 I watched the Outlook app on my phone. My boss walked me out of the building at 1:00pm, took my keycard, and the app access was revoked at 1:07pm.

Re: Twitter is threatening to sue Meta over Threads

#30

Between this and Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino's weird tweet about how great Twitter is ( https://twitter.com/lindayacc/status/1676965566597464065 ), the arrival of Threads is definitely an existential threat for Twitter.

Quite hilarious to see both her and Musk lauding the great Twitter community and Musk tweeting memes about Threads copying Twitter when they themselves showed up at Twitter yesterday. Neither of them had anything to do with building the app and its community. Quite the opposite in fact.
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