BREAKING: Elon Musk threatens to ABANDON $44billion Twitter deal as he slams the social media giant for ‘resisting and thwarting’ his right to details on ‘spam and fake accounts’
Elon Musk has threatened to abandon his $44 billion Twitter takeover because the social media giant will not release details on fake accounts.
The billionaire accused the firm of ‘resisting and thwarting’ his right to information about spam pages on the platform.
Twitter claimed earlier in the battle it had submitted all necessary details but Musk dismissed it as comments on how they find bot accounts.
The entrepreneur has previously threatened to pull his blockbuster deal, with it being ‘temporarily put on hold’ last month while he looked into fake accounts.
He claimed spam bots could make up at least half of Twitter’s users, more than 10 times the company’s official estimate.
He also tweeted last month he ‘cannot move forward’ with the purchase until he is provided the requested data.
Meanwhile Musk’s other ventures – SpaceX and Tesla – have been battered by his Twitter acquisition, with stocks plummeting amid fears he cannot juggle the work.
In a letter to Vijaya Gadde, Twitter’s Chief Legal Officer, dated Monday, Musk’s attorney argued the terms of the billionaire’s purchase agreement requires the platform to provide the requested data, which he has allegedly repeatedly asked for since May 9.
He also disputed the company’s alleged claim that it is only required to provide information for the ‘limited purpose’ of closing the deal.
‘Musk is entitled to seek, and Twitter is obligated to provide, information and data for, inter alia, ‘any reasonable business purpose related to the consummation of the transaction,” the letter stated.
‘Musk believes Twitter is transparently refusing to comply with its obligations under the merger agreement, which is causing further suspicion that the company is withholding the requested data due to concern for what Musk’s own analysis of that data will uncover.’
Twitter has disclosed its bot estimates to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for years, while also cautioning that its estimate might be too low.
Last month, Musk said he wanted to pause on the purchase deal to verify false or spam accounts represented fewer than 5 percent of the company’s 229 million users during the first quarter, as Twitter reported.
If Twitter’s reporting was accurate, that would mean that there are fewer than 11.4 million fake accounts that are targeted for ads.
The billionaire said he and his team wanted to conduct their own audit of 100 Twitter followers to check how many are bots and spam accounts.
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