The Elon Musk – Twitter saga has taken another interesting turn. Tesla Chief Executive Musk has accused the social media giant of withholding data and has even threatened to withdraw his $44 billion takeover bid.
Musk has alleged that Twitter was flouting its obligations to provide the required data on fake accounts.
As per a document filed with the securities regulator Musk said that the social media company has committed “a clear material breach” of “its obligations under the merger agreement” due to which the Tesla CEO reserves the right “not to consummate the transaction and his right to terminate the merger agreement”.
Also read | WION explains | The Elon Musk-Twitter saga; from hostile bid to the actual takeover
Last month, on May 13, the billionaire tweeted that the takeover deal is temporarily on hold.
“Twitter deal temporarily on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of users”.
Twitter deal temporarily on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of usershttps://t.co/Y2t0QMuuyn
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 13, 2022
Watch | Twitter shareholders sue Tesla CEO Elon Musk for violating corporate laws
In May, Twitter projected that during the first quarter, fake or spam accounts accounted for less than 5 per cent of its monetizable daily active users.
Also read | Twitter deal temporarily on hold, says Elon Musk
However, in a response to a Twitter user, Musk stated that the amount of fake users is projected to be 20 per cent, but that it might be considerably higher. He further stated that the deal will not proceed until the Twitter CEO provides the substantiation of the less than 5 per cent claim.
20% fake/spam accounts, while 4 times what Twitter claims, could be *much* higher.
My offer was based on Twitter’s SEC filings being accurate.
Yesterday, Twitter’s CEO publicly refused to show proof of <5%.
This deal cannot move forward until he does.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 17, 2022
According to software business SparkToro, 19.42 per cent of Twitter accounts are fake or spam, but the company acknowledges that its process for identifying bots is likely different from Twitter’s and that this might impact the numbers.
This latest twist in his $44 billion proposal to buy the vital platform has fuelled rumours that the world’s richest man was attempting to lower the price or perhaps pull out of the deal.
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