Tesla CEO Elon Musk is putting pressure on Twitter, saying his deal to buy the company can’t move forward unless it publicly shows that less than five percent of accounts on the social media platform are fake or spammy.
In a series of tweets on Tuesday, Musk provoked user comments about the bots on Twitter and called on government regulators to investigate.
Overnight, Musk tweeted that “20% of fake/spam accounts, while four times what Twitter claims, may be much higher. My offer is based on the accuracy of Twitter’s SEC statements. “
On Tuesday afternoon, he tweeted a survey of his 93 million followers, saying, “Twitter claims that > 95% of active users are genuine, upbeat humans. Does anyone have this experience?” with a reaction that indicates a laugh and another that looks like a bot.
Musk also tweeted from the Securities and Exchange Commission, responding to another user who advised the SEC to investigate the Twitter bot’s statistics. “Hello @SECGov, at home?” Musk said.
He added: “Yesterday, the CEO of Twitter publicly refused to show the 5% test. This agreement moves forward until it does. “
Musk spent much of the past day going back and forth with Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, who posted a series of tweets explaining his company’s efforts to combat bots and how he has estimated that less than 5% of Twitter accounts are fake.
Musk, who demanded twitter’s estimates for external validation, responded to Agrawal with a poop emoji.
The anthropomorphic emoji is Musk’s latest salvo against Twitter over inauthentic accounts, a challenge he said he would get rid of the social platform.
At a generation convention in Miami on Monday, Musk estimated that at least 20 percent of Twitter’s 229 million accounts are spam bots, and says it’s at the bottom of his rating, according to a Bloomberg News report.
The war on spam accounts began last week when Musk tweeted that twitter’s deal was suspended pending confirmation from the company’s estimates that they account for less than five percent of the total number of users.
Also at All In Summit, Musk hinted that he would like to pay less for Twitter than the $44 billion offer he made last month.
He said a viable deal at a lower price would be out of the question, according to the Bloomberg report, which said he watched a live video of the convention posted through a Twitter user.
Musk’s comments are likely analysts’ view that the billionaire wants to pull out of the deal or buy the company at a lower price. to be looking for a better deal on Twitter because $44 billion is too high. “
“It turns out that the spam/bot challenge is cascading and obviously makes the Twitter deal confusing,” Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, said in a note to investors. force and we find it more like the excuse ‘the dog ate the task’ to rescue the Twitter deal or communicate about a lower price. “
Despite the drawback, Twitter said Tuesday in a regulatory filing that it plans to close the deal on the agreed price and terms, and that it is subject to approval by Twitter shareholders and is expected to close in 2022. Twitter’s board of directors unanimously voting shareholders in favor of the transaction.
“Twitter’s board is stuck in a very complicated situation, as if it doesn’t settle for a lower price (after negotiations following the bot challenge review in the coming weeks) for the deal and Musk works, then the stock will likely see a $30 sublevel with a damaged deal in this volatile market environment. ” Ives said.
Musk announced the purchase of Twitter on April 14 for $54. 20 based on the percentage, roughly $10 more than the percentage value at the time. Twitter shares have since fallen and are trading at around $38. 00 based on the rate on Tuesday afternoon.
To fund the acquisition, it pledged some of its Tesla shares, which have fallen a third since the deal’s announcement.
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