Elon Musk’s $44 billion deal to takeover Twitter will not “move forward” unless the CEO of the tech company can prove the number of fake or spam accounts on the platform.
Musk tweeted on Tuesday that his cash buyout offer for Twitter was based on the company’s fillings with the Security and Exchange Committee on the number of fake or spam accounts on the platform “being accurate.” Twitter has disclosed that it estimates spam or fake accounts represent less than 5% of users since 2013, but Musk said he believes that number could be much higher, and he wants Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal to “show proof.”
MUSK SPAMS TWITTER CEO DURING THREAD ON SPAM ACCOUNTS
“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,” Musk tweeted on Tuesday.
The billionaire Tesla and SpaceX CEO posted the comment in reply to an article shared on Twitter by Teslarati, a website dedicated to Musk and his companies.
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
During a tech conference in Miami on Monday, Musk reportedly said that the more questions he asks of Twitter about the fake accounts, the more his concerns grow about the number.
Last week, Musk announced the deal for Twitter was “temporarily on hold” until the company provided details supporting its calculation of the number of fake or spam accounts.
Agrawal said on Monday that he doesn’t believe an accurate estimation of spam or fake accounts “can be performed externally, given the critical need to use both public and private information (which we can’t share).”
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He explained the methodology that he claims Twitter uses to identify fake accounts and said the comapny deletes half a million spam accounts every day and locks millions of accounts every week that are suspected to be spam accounts.
Agrawal said he and the company believe that the 5% estimate is accurate, but he hasn’t provided proof of that number.
