Musk warns: With no fake account data, the deal with Twitter is blown

Elon Musk he said the deal to buy 100% of Twitter can be blown if the social network does not disclose the fake accounts. The billionaire said this in a letter to the SEC, the American Consob. The text reads that Twitter’s decision, which Tesla’s boss bought last April 25 for 44 billion, to refuse to provide this data is a “clear material violation” of its obligations and that at this point the entrepreneur is reserves the right to terminate the merger agreement.

In early May, Musk he said he would temporarily suspend the deal, waiting for the social media company to provide data on the percentage of his fake accounts. “Musk believes that Twitter is transparently refusing to comply with its obligations under the merger agreement, which is raising suspicion that the company is withholding requested data due to concern about what the analysis is. Musk himself will reveal such data “, reads the letter. “Musk believes the company is actively resisting and obstructing its information rights,” reads the letter from Musk’s attorneys. Shares of Twitter fell 5.5% to $ 37.95 in pre-market trading.

Why is the question of bots important?

A Twitter bot is software that controls an account. He can control it in part, or completely. In fact, therefore, the attack managed by a software does not exist. He is not a real person. For example, this program can autonomously perform some of the actions available on the platform, such as posting tweets or retweets, like or follow other users.

These are the behaviors of what are called botnets: accounts that, if coordinated, are able to bring out a trend on the platform, to relaunch the contents that the botnet manager wants, comment, criticize, insult an account en masse. It is one of the main plagues of all social media. Bots are programmed according to a series of rules, they have some objectives, perhaps interact with all the contents that have a certain keyword inside. For Musk, bots are important because they don’t allow you to define a true commercial value in twitter.

The other issues of Musk and Twitter

It is not the first since the agreement. Musk has already been sued last May by some Twitter investors for the delay with which he communicated to the Sec, the US Consob, his participation in the social media company. The complaint was filed with a California federal court. Investors claim Musk has saved 156 million dollars by not disclosing that they bought more than 5% of Twitter by March 14.