Twitter may have difficulties to beat Meta in process – 07/07/2023 – Tech

Twitter’s claim that Meta stole its trade secrets to build a new microblogging platform, Threads, could be the first strike in a legal battle between the social media giants, but experts say Elon Musk’s company will have to overcome a major hurdle if you decide to sue.

In a letter sent on Wednesday (5), Twitter alleged that Meta used its trade secrets to develop its new social media platform and demanded that they stop using the information.

Twitter said Meta hired dozens of its former employees, many of whom “improperly withheld” company devices and documents, and said Meta “deliberately” assigned them to work on Threads.

It was not clear whether any lawsuits will be filed.

A Twitter spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Meta spokesman Andy Stone said in a Threads post on Thursday that no member of the site’s engineering team is a former Twitter employee.

Legal experts said that while many companies have accused competitors who hired former employees of a similar product of stealing trade secrets, the cases are difficult to substantiate.

To win, a company must show that its competitor obtained economically valuable information and that the company had made “reasonable efforts” to keep it secret, said Polk Wagner, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania.

However, the question of what constitutes “reasonable effort” can be tricky, he said.

“The courts make it very clear that you can’t just wave your hands and say something is a trade secret. On the other hand, you don’t have to lock everything up so nobody can use the information,” Wagner said.