Musk Threatens Meta with Lawsuit Over Threads; Chinese Regulators to Close Ant Group Revamp

by Hannah Dillon on 9th Jul 2023 in News

In today's ExchangeWire news digest: Elon Musk threatens to sue Meta over its "copycat" app; Chinese authorities are expected to end their investigation into Ant Group with a billion-Yuan fine; and a US federal judge has blocked government officials and agencies from contacting social media companies due to concerns over censorship.

Musk threatens to sue Zuckerberg over new app

Twitter-boss Elon Musk may take legal action against Meta for its “copycat” app, Threads. Following the app’s launch on 5th July, attorney Alex Spiro issued a letter to Mark Zuckerberg which accused Meta of hiring former Twitter employees and using the company's trade secrets to build the microblogging app. Meta’s communications director, Andy Stone, refuted the claims, stating, “no one on the Threads engineering team is a former Twitter employee — that's just not a thing.”

Ant Group’s regulatory overhaul may be coming to an end

Chinese authorities are believed to be wrapping up their lengthy regulatory overhaul of Ant Group. The years-long revamp, sparked by the collapse of Ant’s ¥268bn (~£210bn) IPO in 2020, could be brought to an end with a fine of at least ¥8bn (~£867m) fine. The People’s Bank of China is expected to disclose an exact figure in the coming days.

US officials blocked from contacting social media sites

A US federal judge has blocked key government agencies and officials from communicating with social media companies about protected speech. The injunction follows a lawsuit from Republican attorneys general in Louisiana and Missouri, who allege officials including President Joe Biden, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and the CDC, have intervened in the moderation of content posted to social media sites beyond reason. The claim states, “starting in 2017 — four years before Biden was president — officials within the government began laying the groundwork for a ‘systemic and systematic campaign’ to control speech on social media.”