Elon Musk Threatens To Back Out Of Twitter Deal If Company Can’t Prove Bot Claims

Elon Musk planted the seeds for pulling out of his deal to purchase Twitter recently. The billionaire entrepreneur put his takeover on hold pending an investigation into the company’s claims that less than 5% of its accounts are illegitimate. Today, Musk doubled down on that statement.

Musk questioned the veracity of Twitter’s position that bots don’t make up a significant portion of the site’s user base. He asked Twitter’s CEO, Parag Agrawal, to provide evidence of the 5% figure. Agrawal posted a lengthy response about spam on the site, but Elon Musk responded with a poop emoji.

The Tesla boss noted that his offer was based on Twitter’s SEC filings being accurate. That would mean that the 5% number for fake accounts would be a deal breaker. Elon Musk said the deal will not move forward until he sees proof of that.

“20% fake/spam accounts, while 4 times what Twitter claims, could be *much* higher.

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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.”

Twitter doesn’t seem willing to share proof of their claim of less than 5% of its users being fake. The company even sent their legal department after Elon Musk for violating a non-disclosure agreement when he brought it up. It appears Elon’s bid to take over the company may have hit a breaking point.

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