The fake, and spam accounts on the platform were the main issue blocking the advancement of the deal. Finally, they are the link that broke and led to Elon Musk’s backing off from acquiring Twitter.
Now, Twitter is forcing Musk to close the deal by filing a lawsuit against him. However, in order for him to proceed, he requests detailed information on the spam bots on the platform. And in addition, he asks for the method with which the company determines the number of bots.
Elon Musk’s Lawyers State That The People Who Calculate Fake Accounts On Twitter Are Held Anonymous
In the lawsuit that emerged from the unsuccessful deal, Elon Musk’s lawyers request to question the Twitter employees that are responsible for the controversial calculation and estimation of fake accounts.
Since there is no clear information on who, where, how, and when did the study, Elon Musk’s legal team is now accusing Twitter of hiding the key people. With this, they ask the Delaware court to force Twitter to identify them.
The identification of the key people is with one sole purpose – so they can be specifically questioned in court. Elon Musk’s legal team filed a letter to the Delaware Court Judge Kathaleen St. J. McCormick asking her to take into consideration their request.
Musk’s saga of obtaining Twitter span for several months. There were back and forth situations where both sides were asking and providing information. However, the final one that Twitter couldn’t deliver is exactly this – the spam bots question. This led to Musk fleeing the deal and abandoning the $44 billion bid he made to obtain the platform.
In the financial reports that Twitter disclosed to Musk at the beginning of the negotiations, they claim that the number of bots is less than 5% at any given time. However, Musk does not agree with this. According to him and his team, this number is most likely somewhere near 20%.
Since there is big secrecy surrounding the actual method for obtaining this number of 5%, Musk claims that if the company gives him information on the exact method they use to sample 100 accounts and determine the number of fake accounts from them, he might proceed with the deal.
“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.” – the billionaire says.
The legal battle, worth more than $40 billion will take place in October this year. The plan is for it to last five days before delivering the verdict.
Legal experts claim that the $1 billion break-up fee is more or less inevitable for the billionaire. However, since the deal already cost around $33 million to Twitter, there may be additional charges on top of the $1 billion.
