In a development that intensifies the battle in the social media realm, Twitter has hinted at legal action against Meta, previously Facebook, over its new text-based application, Threads. Twitter alleges that Meta has unlawfully utilized its trade secrets and intellectual property in the creation of Threads, which amassed tens of millions of users within a week of its launch. The new app, billed as a text-based version of Instagram, positions itself as a direct competitor to Elon Musk's social media platform, and its debut appears to be stirring controversy.

The legal threat came to light on Wednesday in a letter addressed to Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta. The letter, written by Alex Spiro, a lawyer representing Twitter, accuses Meta of recruiting former Twitter employees to develop a "copycat" app. The Associated Press reached out to Spiro on Thursday for additional details on the potential lawsuit but received a rudimentary, automated response from Twitter. The company's standard procedure when journalists seek comments.

The development marks an escalation of tensions between the two social media powerhouses. Twitter's challenge comes after the introduction of Threads on Wednesday, an app that is rapidly attracting users dissatisfied with recent changes to Twitter. Elon Musk, who acquired Twitter last year for a staggering $44 billion, has made significant modifications to the platform that have been broadly unpopular among the user community.

Threads' development team is said to be devoid of former Twitter employees, a point Meta spokesperson, Andy Stone, emphasized in a Thursday post on Threads. “No one on the Threads engineering team is a former Twitter employee — that’s just not a thing,” Stone wrote.