MOVE OVER, TWITTER!

Mark Zuckerberg’s Threads is a threat to Elon Musk’s operation

- SINEKHAYA SINEKE

AS FAR as launching a new social media platform goes, it’s been a success by any standard. Some 30 million users signed up in just one day – and by the end of the week that number had surpassed the 100-million mark.

Meta, owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, can consider the launch of Threads as one of their major triumphs in recent years. And for CEO Mark Zuckerberg, still bruised from his failed forays into the metaverse, it’s a huge win.

Big names such as Oprah Winfrey, Jennifer Lopez, Jamie Oliver and Paris Hilton signed up.

Conspicuously absent was Elon Musk. The Twitter boss is livid and believes Threads is a rip-off of the company he bought for $44 billion (R748 billion) last year. “Competition is fine, cheating is not,” Musk, who also owns Tesla and SpaceX, tweeted.

His attorneys sent a cease-and-desist letter to Zuckerberg, accusing his company of “systematic, wilful, and unlawful misappropriation of Twitter’s trade secrets and other intellectual property”.

They allege Meta hired dozens of former Twitter employees who shared “highly confidential information” that allowed the company to create Threads.

But Meta denied having any former Twitter employees on its Threads team. The company says it wants to offer a “friendly” alternative where there’s no bullying and trolling.

We take a closer look at the new social media platform.

WHAT IS THREADS?