Elon Musk Challenges Twitter CEO To A Debate On Bots

Elon Musk backed out of his agreement to acquire Twitter, and the company sued him as a result. Elon filed a countersuit against the social media company in response. Musk recently took jabs at Twitter on Saturday, daring CEO Parag Agrawal to debate him in the midst of a legal battle.

Elon Musk provoked Twitter by challenging the company’s CEO, Parag Agrawal, to a “public debate.” In the middle of a contentious legal dispute over a $44 billion acquisition, it is about fake accounts and spam. Musk filed a bid with the Securities and Exchange to purchase Twitter in April of this year.

Musk announced the termination of his acquisition after the companies decided to proceed with a take-private deal. He also accused Twitter of presenting inaccurate data, including in SEC filings, on the number of monetizable daily active users and spam and bot accounts on the social network.

Twitter then sued Musk in Delaware chancery court to ensure that the deal would be completed as planned. On July 29, Musk filed counterclaims and a countersuit. Musk interacted with a fan who had summarized his accusations about Twitter, including that it was stonewalling him and giving him “outdated data,” and “a fake data set,” when he asked the company for details about how it tabulates mDAU, and estimates for spam and bot accounts, in a series of tweets on Saturday, August 6th.

“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.”

Musk also posted a Twitter poll, asking his followers to vote on whether “[l]ess than 5% of Twitter daily users are fake/spam.” Respondents to Musk’s informal poll may select one of two answers: “Yes” followed by three robot emojis, or “Lmaooo no.” Musk also tweeted a challenge to Twitter CEO on Saturday morning.

“I hereby challenge @paraga to a public debate about the Twitter bot percentage. Let him prove to the public that Twitter has <5% fake or spam daily users!”

According to a company insider, a debate will not take place outside of a pending trial. Unless they reach a settlement first, Twitter and Musk will face a five-day trial in Delaware starting on Oct. 17th. The judge ruling on the case is Chancellor Kathaleen St. J. McCormick.

Let’s wait and see what happens. One thing is certain: Musk will not remain still. To get the latest updates, keep an eye on Thirsty.

What’s your opinion on this one? Let us know in the comments!