Tesla chief executive pushes bot concerns amid speculation he is trying to reopen or walk away from deal.
"My offer was based on Twitter's SEC filings being accurate," Musk tweeted early Tuesday.
If many people independently get similar results for % of fake/spam/duplicate accounts, that will be telling. "Yesterday, Twitter's CEO publicly refused to show proof of <5%. This deal cannot move forward until he does." I'm open to better ideas." But Musk estimates that around 20% of the accounts on Twitter are fake or spam accounts and he's concerned that the number could be even higher. "Any sensible random sampling process is fine. - But Musk estimates that around 20% of the accounts on Twitter are fake or spam accounts and he's concerned that the number could be even higher.
Tesla CEO and world's richest person expressed concerns about presence of fake accounts on platform. Elon Musk is seen displayed on a smartphone with a ...
And some of the spam accounts which are actually the most dangerous – and cause the most harm to our users – can look totally legitimate on the surface,” he wrote. “The hard challenge is that many accounts which look fake superficially are actually real people. Agrawal explained that tackling automated spam accounts was a “dynamic” process that required fighting “sophisticated and hard to catch” actors.
Elon Musk has said fake and spam accounts could make up over 20 percent of Twitter's users, and said the $44 billion deal to acquire the social media ...
There’s been speculation that Elon Musk is using the discussion of the number of bots on Twitter as a tactic to negotiate a lower acquisition price. But he added that “we don’t believe this specific estimation can be performed externally, given the critical need to use both public and private information (which we can’t share).” Musk responded to his lengthy tweet thread with the turd emoji. “Currently what I’m being told is that there’s just no way to know the number of bots,” said Musk. “It’s like, as unknowable as the human soul.” Although he later said he’s “still committed to [the] acquisition.” Yesterday, Twitter’s CEO publicly refused to show proof of <5%. This deal cannot move forward until he does.” Musk is currently in the process of buying Twitter and its estimated 226 million monetizable daily active users for $44 billion.
Mr. Musk called on Twitter to provide more data about the number of spam and fake accounts on the social media site.
Mr. Musk’s deal with Twitter also has a nondisparagement clause that prohibits him from tweeting negatively about the transaction. Last Friday, he tweeted that his purchase of Twitter was “temporarily on hold” until he could get more details about the volume of spam and fake accounts on the platform. Tech company stocks have taken a beating since Mr. Musk first announced his acquisition of Twitter earlier this month. The two sides have so far continued as if there is a deal. On Monday, Parag Agrawal, Twitter’s chief executive, posted a lengthy thread detailing how the company calculates its number of bots. It is also below where Twitter traded before Mr. Musk initially revealed that he had bought a big stake in the company, the opening move in what has become an increasingly convoluted takeover saga. He later followed up saying he was still “ committed” to the deal. “So you know, at the end of the day, acquiring it has to be fixable with a reasonable time frame and without revenues collapsing along the way.” Renegotiating a deal would not be easy. Elon Musk, the world’s wealthiest man, capped what seemed an improbable attempt by the famously mercurial billionaire to buy Twitter for roughly $44 billion. In a tweet published at 3:32 a.m. Eastern time on Tuesday, Mr. Musk said the figure could be well above 20 percent, without providing information to support the claim. Here’s how the deal unfolded:
Elon Musk escalated a public feud with Twitter's CEO early Tuesday, saying his acquisition of the social media company "cannot move forward" until he sees ...
on Twitter, once describing cryptocurrency spam bots as the platform's "single most annoying problem." That pivot from Musk fueled speculation that the world's richest man may be using the debate over bots to secure a better price for Twitter, either as a negotiating tactic or out of necessity Parsing through legitimate and fake accounts can be complicated, he said. Musk on Friday declared it was "temporarily on hold" but that he's "still committed to acquisition." The company has said that less than 5% of its daily active users are spam accounts. "Yesterday, Twitter's CEO publicly refused to show proof of <5%. This deal cannot move forward until he does."
In its filings, Twitter claims fewer than 5% of accounts on the platform are fake or spam accounts. Musk disputes this figure and estimates spam and fake ...
Musk, the world’s wealthiest person, put the deal “ on hold” last week in order to get more information on the number of fake and spam accounts on Twitter, an issue he said will be one of his “ top” priorities leading the company. The true number of fake and spam accounts on Twitter. Musk did not provide details on how he reached 20% and Twitter does not open its data troves for public inspection. Twitter on Tuesday said it is committed to seeing the deal with Musk through at the agreed price and terms, Reuters reported.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk says his deal to buy Twitter can't move forward unless the company shows public proof that less than 5% of the accounts on the social ...
You may click on “Your Choices” below to learn about and use cookie management tools to limit use of cookies when you visit NPR’s sites. If you click “Agree and Continue” below, you acknowledge that your cookie choices in those tools will be respected and that you otherwise agree to the use of cookies on NPR’s sites. NPR’s sites use cookies, similar tracking and storage technologies, and information about the device you use to access our sites (together, “cookies”) to enhance your viewing, listening and user experience, personalize content, personalize messages from NPR’s sponsors, provide social media features, and analyze NPR’s traffic.
Social media group says it is committed to 'agreed price' on day Tesla chief raises prospect of reducing offer.
Elon Musk continues to badger Twitter over its metrics and is calling on the SEC to look into the company's user numbers.
"An error was made at that time, such that actions taken via the primary account resulted in all linked accounts being counted as mDAU." Musk agreed to buy Twitter last month for $44 billion, but has since said the deal is on pause as he looks into bots, spam and fakes. Twitter's stock has given up all its gains since Musk first disclosed his 9% stake in the company early last month.
Elon Musk's Twitter acquisition is apparently on hold, pending proof he'll accept about what impact bots have on its daily active user numbers.
His quarrel with them has focused on their attempts to enforce a consent decree he agreed to in 2018 over the “funding secured” tweets about taking Tesla private. Joke or not, Twitter has had troubles with accurate metrics and recently admitted it had been overcounting daily users for years. So does Elon Musk want to buy Twitter or not?
The deal to buy Twitter can't "move forward" without proof of spam account numbers, Mr Musk says.
He said "there is some chance it might be over 90% of daily active users". Is it a convenient peg on which to hang a renegotiation? He's making a big deal about fake accounts. Elon Musk has doubled down on his position that his deal to buy the social network is on ice while the actual amount of spambots and accounts operating on it is investigated. On Tuesday, Mr Musk said Twitter boss Parag Agrawal had "publicly refused to show proof" that fewer than 5% of its accounts were fake, and said the deal "cannot move forward" until Mr Agrawal does show proof. Elon Musk has said his $44bn deal to buy Twitter may be in jeopardy due to a disagreement over the number of fake accounts on the social media platform.
They say the transaction is in the best interest of all shareholders. . Read more at straitstimes.com.
"We intend to close the transaction and enforce the merger agreement," the board said on Tuesday (May 17) in a statement to Bloomberg News. On Monday, Mr Musk stoked speculation that he could seek to renegotiate the takeover, saying at a tech conference in Miami that a viable deal at a lower price wouldn't be "out of the question". NEW YORK (BLOOMBERG) - Twitter's board said it plans to enforce its US$44 billion (S$60.9 billion) agreement to be bought by billionaire Elon Musk, saying the transaction is in the best interest of all shareholders.
ELON MUSK may be directing his buyer's remorse at Twitter's bot problem. But underpinning the deal is a US$13 billion debt bill that's looking like a bigger ...
Who wants to own Twitter? Maybe Elon Musk doesn't.
We intend to close the transaction and enforce the merger agreement." Key words: "Enforce the merger agreement." But what if Musk pays to make this deal go away? There is a "60%+ chance from our view Musk ultimately walks from the deal and pays the breakup fee," analyst Dan Ives said Tuesday. The Bloomberg Opinion columnist said "it is important to be clear" that Musk "is lying:" Disputes about spam bots "are not why he is backing away from the deal, as you can tell from the fact that the spam bots are why he did the deal." The board, in other words, wants to rid itself of Twitter. I obtained a new statement from the board Tuesday night that read, "The Board and Mr. Musk agreed to a transaction at $54.20 per share.
Twitter and Musk agreed to certain rules to ensure the deal closes, including a specific clause that forces the billionaire to complete the buyout.
On Tuesday, Musk put the brakes on negotiations, saying the buyout can't proceed unless Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal proved that the platform has fewer than 5% fake accounts. Twitter's falling share price suggested that investors were convinced that Musk's current buyout offer might fall through. A Twitter spokesperson declined to comment when approached by Insider.