78 votes

Twitter is threatening to sue Meta over Threads

36 comments

  1. [9]
    Eji1700
    Link
    With what lawyers? Not a pithy comment, but literally my understanding is that they also slashed legal resources? Maybe it was just the top of the chain or they're going outside the company, but...

    With what lawyers?

    Not a pithy comment, but literally my understanding is that they also slashed legal resources? Maybe it was just the top of the chain or they're going outside the company, but still. They can't even handle responding to media anymore (not that i'm against that honestly).

    68 votes
    1. [2]
      Kingofthezyx
      Link Parent
      If you look at the letter (PDF warning, sanity.io), it's outside representation. https://www.quinnemanuel.com/

      If you look at the letter (PDF warning, sanity.io), it's outside representation.

      https://www.quinnemanuel.com/

      21 votes
      1. Penumbra
        Link Parent
        Wonder what collateral the firm accepted given Elon/Twitter's wrecked finances.

        Wonder what collateral the firm accepted given Elon/Twitter's wrecked finances.

        14 votes
    2. [6]
      RapidEyeMovement
      Link Parent
      I thought they were going to fight in the Roman Colosseum mano a mano winner takes all or some nonsense. Muskrat going back to his lawyer play, lame.

      I thought they were going to fight in the Roman Colosseum mano a mano winner takes all or some nonsense.

      Muskrat going back to his lawyer play, lame.

      10 votes
      1. [5]
        ChthonicSun
        Link Parent
        It wouldn't even be funny to watch, Zuckerbot is trained in MMA and physically active. He'd just roundhouse kick Musk in the face and the fight would be over.

        It wouldn't even be funny to watch, Zuckerbot is trained in MMA and physically active. He'd just roundhouse kick Musk in the face and the fight would be over.

        5 votes
        1. [2]
          legogizmo
          Link Parent
          That sounds funny to me. Though the funniest bit is the fact that Elon's mom called off the fight.

          That sounds funny to me.

          Though the funniest bit is the fact that Elon's mom called off the fight.

          5 votes
          1. ChthonicSun
            Link Parent
            I think it'd be funnier if it was two fat billionaires slapping each other like small children, I can already feel the secondhand embarrassment just thinking about it. Because let's be honest, the...

            I think it'd be funnier if it was two fat billionaires slapping each other like small children, I can already feel the secondhand embarrassment just thinking about it. Because let's be honest, the end goal is to laugh at their misfortune, not to cheer for one of them.

            1 vote
        2. [2]
          MimicSquid
          Link Parent
          I dunno, I think that would be a funny clip. A letdown in the long term, but a OHKO of Musk would please some hard part of my heart.

          I dunno, I think that would be a funny clip. A letdown in the long term, but a OHKO of Musk would please some hard part of my heart.

          1 vote
          1. anxieT-rex
            Link Parent
            Needs higher stakes. 90% of loser's assets get transferred to the IRS and they can no longer create, purchase, or be employed by any tech company. Winner has to accept future challenges.

            Needs higher stakes.

            90% of loser's assets get transferred to the IRS and they can no longer create, purchase, or be employed by any tech company.

            Winner has to accept future challenges.

            2 votes
  2. the_eon
    Link
    What's really crazy is that Twitter refuses to perform legal arbitration for almost 1k former employees because it doesn't have the cash to do so. The only reason that tactic may work is because...

    What's really crazy is that Twitter refuses to perform legal arbitration for almost 1k former employees because it doesn't have the cash to do so. The only reason that tactic may work is because the employees don't have deep pockets for a drawn out legal battle. Meta though? They can absolutely fight this, for longer and better than Twitter can at this point.

    It really is a signal of defeat. Musk tanked Twitter and Threads is almost definitely going to replace it, and so one last ditch effort to stay alive.

    54 votes
  3. [5]
    DefiantEmbassy
    Link
    This gave me a chuckle. Firing a bunch of your engineers, and being surprised that a competitor picks them up. What exactly do Facebook not know about running a text-based social media app?

    This gave me a chuckle. Firing a bunch of your engineers, and being surprised that a competitor picks them up. What exactly do Facebook not know about running a text-based social media app?

    48 votes
    1. [4]
      MaoZedongers
      Link Parent
      According to the article it's not even that. Not sure if I believe that though.

      A Meta source told Semafor that Twitter’s accusations are baseless.

      “No one on the Threads engineering team is a former Twitter employee — that’s just not a thing,” the source said.

      According to the article it's not even that. Not sure if I believe that though.

      35 votes
      1. [3]
        MimicSquid
        Link Parent
        That would be such an easy thing to disprove, though. I'd believe Meta over Twitter in this instance.

        That would be such an easy thing to disprove, though. I'd believe Meta over Twitter in this instance.

        25 votes
        1. [2]
          Penumbra
          Link Parent
          Given the overabundance of Meta ads I saw over the last few months telling me how Meta was going to be Everything, I wouldn't be surprised if they were already coding this feature as a tie in and...

          Given the overabundance of Meta ads I saw over the last few months telling me how Meta was going to be Everything, I wouldn't be surprised if they were already coding this feature as a tie in and saw this as a golden opportunity to launch.

          15 votes
          1. Grzmot
            Link Parent
            Twitters only complex problem is scale, which Facebook is already good at. Probably someone with a brain and some power at Fb decided to throw a couple of people at the problem and make a boatload...

            Twitters only complex problem is scale, which Facebook is already good at. Probably someone with a brain and some power at Fb decided to throw a couple of people at the problem and make a boatload of cash collecting more data.

            9 votes
  4. [8]
    petrichor
    Link
    What trade secrets, also? What kinds of trade secrets could Twitter have? Building a "Twitter clone" is kind of a regular cruddy project to learn a new language or framework or what not.

    What trade secrets, also? What kinds of trade secrets could Twitter have? Building a "Twitter clone" is kind of a regular cruddy project to learn a new language or framework or what not.

    43 votes
    1. aetherious
      Link Parent
      Trade secrets from Elon I-want-to-make-Twitter-code-open-source Musk wouldn't fly in court I don't think. Twitter could have competed with Meta fine if it hadn't turned to the mess it is now and...

      Trade secrets from Elon I-want-to-make-Twitter-code-open-source Musk wouldn't fly in court I don't think. Twitter could have competed with Meta fine if it hadn't turned to the mess it is now and people were eagerly looking for an alternative.

      22 votes
    2. eggnewton
      Link Parent
      Elon probably doesn’t know either. He cleaned house of most of the people who would’ve known Twitter’s trade secrets.

      Elon probably doesn’t know either. He cleaned house of most of the people who would’ve known Twitter’s trade secrets.

      9 votes
    3. [4]
      jargon
      Link Parent
      Why does everyone keep saying this? If it was that easy, someone would’ve done it as soon as Twitter started capsizing, but they haven’t. Why not? Well, network effects for one—which Threads can...

      Why does everyone keep saying this? If it was that easy, someone would’ve done it as soon as Twitter started capsizing, but they haven’t. Why not?

      Well, network effects for one—which Threads can solve for immediately. But also because it’s actually incredibly difficult to scale to twitters size. 368,000,000 daily users is no joke. And significant skew in engagement by user. Then you have to police / moderate effectively, which needs automation via ML IP.

      It’s much harder than everyone thinks

      5 votes
      1. eagle69
        Link Parent
        I think most people understand it's hard. But it's not some magic discovery that made Twitter work. It was hard work by skilled engineers. So "trade secrets" is kind of stupid. It's not like Meta...

        I think most people understand it's hard. But it's not some magic discovery that made Twitter work. It was hard work by skilled engineers. So "trade secrets" is kind of stupid. It's not like Meta does not know how to run a large website with billions of users.

        17 votes
      2. raze2012
        Link Parent
        because as we've seen time and time again, a messaging website social media is hard to monetize. Twitter IIRC wasn't profitable for almost a decade, despite being a top 3 traffic'd site (i.e. it...

        If it was that easy, someone would’ve done it as soon as Twitter started capsizing, but they haven’t. Why not?

        because as we've seen time and time again, a messaging website social media is hard to monetize. Twitter IIRC wasn't profitable for almost a decade, despite being a top 3 traffic'd site (i.e. it should be the place for ads to come knocking).

        The tech to make a twitter front end is indeed cheap and easy in the grand scheme of things (I highly doubt Meta has some bespoke ML moderation scheme that wouldn't already be used with FB/Instagram). The costs to scale is enourmous, though. So there's no financial incentive to compete (even before going into the social difficulties of attracting an audience. Google and Microsoft can speak to that well in adjacent fields) .

        3 votes
      3. Grue
        Link Parent
        Twitter's product components in exponentially increasing order of difficulty: a) features b) scale c) userbase Creating the features; easy. Scaling is much harder, but it's still WAY harder to get...

        Twitter's product components in exponentially increasing order of difficulty:

        a) features

        b) scale

        c) userbase

        Creating the features; easy. Scaling is much harder, but it's still WAY harder to get the users to need the scale. In general, you solve A, then work on C, assuming you can work on B if you're successful at C. This is exactly what Twitter did (and wasn't even that good at B keeping up with C)

        So, people keep saying that A is easy, and it is, and B is way easier in the modern world than when Twitter had to solve it.

        3 votes
    4. Grue
      Link Parent
      The trade secrets that they wanted the open source community to figure out for them when they open sourced their code because they couldn't figure it out.

      The trade secrets that they wanted the open source community to figure out for them when they open sourced their code because they couldn't figure it out.

  5. [2]
    Comment deleted by author
    Link
    1. darreninthenet
      Link Parent
      Musk will keep Twitter running on a Raspberry Pi on his desk for him and his small group of sycophants before he ever ever admits indirectly that he made mistakes by joining a rival platform.

      Musk will keep Twitter running on a Raspberry Pi on his desk for him and his small group of sycophants before he ever ever admits indirectly that he made mistakes by joining a rival platform.

      11 votes
  6. aetherious
    Link
    I have limited understanding of what suing Meta would involve but I'm curious if this will involve dragging up some internal dirt at Twitter itself as a part of the proceedings. I was going...

    I have limited understanding of what suing Meta would involve but I'm curious if this will involve dragging up some internal dirt at Twitter itself as a part of the proceedings. I was going through Elon Musk's personal texts that had come out during the previous trial recently and it sheds a light on how he conducts business and it's a far cry from Zuckerberg, whose company actually makes a profit. Even the Metaverse, unsuccessful as it was commercially, barely cost them financially. They're making money and they have the money to burn for lengthy legal proceedings and the only thing to come out of it will be legal costs to Twitter.

    13 votes
  7. DiggWasCool
    Link
    How long before he threatens to buy Thread from Meta?

    How long before he threatens to buy Thread from Meta?

    10 votes
  8. PAKman1426
    Link
    If that's the case, shouldn't they be suing truth as well? They all look very much the same. Guess they don't feel truth is a serious threat.

    If that's the case, shouldn't they be suing truth as well? They all look very much the same. Guess they don't feel truth is a serious threat.

    5 votes
  9. [2]
    frogcannon
    Link
    So does anyone else here think this might just be some attempt by Musk to get settlement cash out of Meta? The claims that are made seem like they wouldn't be hard to prove or disprove and Meta...

    So does anyone else here think this might just be some attempt by Musk to get settlement cash out of Meta? The claims that are made seem like they wouldn't be hard to prove or disprove and Meta doesn't seem like they would be stupid enough to do anything so blatant as to hire ex Twitter employees and direct them to use anything Twitter would have any sort of legal claim to in their product. Meta can just throw money at whatever problems they have while creating Threads.

    Musk's thought process is probably that Meta will simply pay to make all this go away because otherwise these claims will mire the launch of Threads in controversy thereby make it a less palatable service. Which it wouldn't since Musk has managed to blow any credibility he had with those who are likely to switch over... however that seems like exactly the type of social miscalculation Musk would make.

    4 votes
    1. PuddleOfKittens
      Link Parent
      It's hard to guess what Musk is thinking, but if he remains tethered to reality then he'll know that Facebook has no incentive to pay off Twitter - they're literally trying to compete with...

      So does anyone else here think this might just be some attempt by Musk to get settlement cash out of Meta?

      It's hard to guess what Musk is thinking, but if he remains tethered to reality then he'll know that Facebook has no incentive to pay off Twitter - they're literally trying to compete with Twitter, and have more money than them. This is an easy way to expedite Twitter's bankruptcy. As long as there's no injunction preventing the launch of Threads (and Facebook has all sorts of pro-competition arguments to ensure Threads is permitted to launch), this is an easy win. Plus, given the lawsuit is probably frivolous (Facebook's lawyers seem prudent and Musk does not) I expect Twitter might have to pay Facebook's legal fees (IANAL), which would make this the purest of victories.

      5 votes
  10. [2]
    PossiblyBipedal
    Link
    There's a disagreement section at the bottom of the article that says the future isn't a new twitter, but a more fragmented internet like it was before big social media websites. With the downfall...

    There's a disagreement section at the bottom of the article that says the future isn't a new twitter, but a more fragmented internet like it was before big social media websites.

    With the downfall of reddit and Twitter, I was hoping for this to be the case. But with Threads exististng, with it picking up so fast and is such a threat that Elon is threatening to sue, I think we're going to remain the same.

    The big sites that monopolise social interaction are here to stay.

    3 votes
    1. moistfeet
      Link Parent
      I think it’s getting worse. At least before, Twitter and Facebook were two separate entities. Now Facebook runs its own apps and twitters replacement. Meta is going to have a monopoly on social...

      I think it’s getting worse. At least before, Twitter and Facebook were two separate entities. Now Facebook runs its own apps and twitters replacement. Meta is going to have a monopoly on social media if threads actually kills off Twitter.

      2 votes
  11. [2]
    Fiachra
    Link
    Apparently Twitter released their code on GitHub but under a restrictive licence. But I would just assume one of the biggest tech companies in the world would be easily able to recreate it with...

    Apparently Twitter released their code on GitHub but under a restrictive licence. But I would just assume one of the biggest tech companies in the world would be easily able to recreate it with code just different enough to be legally distinct, and run it by their legal department for a green light. Pretty sure that happened in the show Silicon Valley at some point.

    1. stu2b50
      Link Parent
      Occam's razor is that two have completely distinct codebases. There's no reason the Instagram developers need to copy Twitter's code. For one, they're using entirely different stacks - Threads is...

      Occam's razor is that two have completely distinct codebases. There's no reason the Instagram developers need to copy Twitter's code. For one, they're using entirely different stacks - Threads is on a heavily modified version of Django, just like Instagram, which is completely different than what Twitter runs on. It'd be harder to copy their code at that point.

      14 votes
  12. aspire
    Link
    weird posturing out of twitter, like always smh

    weird posturing out of twitter, like always smh

    9 votes
  13. ignorabimus
    Link
    Elmo getting desperate?

    Elmo getting desperate?

    5 votes
  14. BoomerTheMoose
    Link
    Could we take Muskrat and Suckerberg and just, let the two of them duke it out? One on one? Maybe on an ice floe, drifting out to sea.

    Could we take Muskrat and Suckerberg and just, let the two of them duke it out? One on one?

    Maybe on an ice floe, drifting out to sea.

    3 votes