Elon Musk’s acquisition of social media giant Twitter may still go forward. All Musk needs is the confirmation of the platform’s actual user accounts.
No Bots Allowed
Musk wants to know how many of Twitter’s users are bots and how many are real people. The billionaire had agreed to buy Twitter for $44 billion but has been trying to back out due to accusations of Twitter misleading him about the true size of the user base as well as claims of fraud and breach of contract.
Onward to Court
Twitter sued Musk last month in order to complete the acquisition but Musk countersued. The billionaire and the company are set to go to court in October.
Musk tweeted about his terms with regards to the acquisition.
Good summary of the problem.
If Twitter simply provides their method of sampling 100 accounts and how they’re confirmed to be real, the deal should proceed on original terms.
However, if it turns out that their SEC filings are materially false, then it should not.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 6, 2022
Musk went on to challenge Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal to a “public debate about the Twitter bot percentage.”
Musk is countersuing Twitter on the grounds that Twitter is intentionally miscounting the number of spam accounts on the platform in order to boost its user metrics “as part of a scheme to mislead investors about the company’s prospects.”
Twitter responded to the allegations, saying that’s Musk’s claims are a “story, imagined in an effort to escape a merger agreement that Musk no longer found attractive.”