Title: Elon Musk has openly and aggressively reiterated his claim that Twitter Inc. is plagued by bots. Musk said last month that he was putting the transaction "on hold" until the social media giant can show that bots account for less than 5% of its users, as the business has declared in public filings. According to Musk, fraudulent accounts represent for at least 20% of all users.Twitter confirmed that it has shared information with Musk about how it calculates the amount of spam accounts on the service, and officials have told employees that Musk can't suddenly cancel the transaction because the two companies have signed a merger agreement. The company restated on Tuesday, June 6th, 2022, that it will hold Musk to the terms of his proposed $44 billion acquisition, meaning that Musk is seeking to torpedo the agreement, the company also stated that it has cooperately shared information with Musk and will continue to do so in the future, that it believes the transaction is in the best interests of all shareholders, and that it intends to complete the transaction and enforce the merger agreement at the agreed price and terms. If Musk tries to back out of the agreement, Twitter may sue him to force him to complete it. Elon Musk has been an active user of his personal Twitter account for some time now. He uses it not only to share updates about his companies, but also to have conversations with followers and share humorous insights into his life as a well-known public figure. To date, the Tesla CEO has over 21 million followers on Twitter. But there’t another set of accounts that are also interested in Elon Musk — bots. These are software applications designed to mimic human behavior online, usually with a specific objective in mind (e.g., increasing followers or likes on social media). According to new research, approximately two million of Elon Musk’s 33 million followers are actually fake Twitter bots — significantly reducing his real reach as a public figure. After the news went viral, Elon responded by saying: Who would want to follow anything. On Tuesday, Twitter's shares gained by less than 1% to $39.60, widening the gap between market expectations and the billionaire's $54.20per-share offer, raising market concerns that the deal would fall through. The stock has only recently reached $50 after Musk revealed his buyout proposal on April 14. Because Musk refused to delve deeper into Twitter's finances than what was publicly available, which later the deal was completed quickly put on hold. Twitter Chief Executive Officer Parag Agrawal has publicly argued with Musk about bots on Twitter. Agrawal stated that the company has human reviewers look at thousands of accounts to determine the prevalence of bots, but he couldn't provide more details due to privacy concerns. Unfortunately, given the critical need to use both public and private information, we do not believe that this specific estimation can be performed externally. In a letter to Twitter's top lawyer, Vijaya Gadde, Musk's counsel said, Twitter's current promise to simply provide further details regarding the company's own testing methodology, whether through written documents or verbal explanations, is comparable to dismissing Mr. Musk's data requests.Twitter's attempt to define it differently is nothing more than an attempt to obfuscate and distort the subject. Mr. Musk has stated that the company's law testing techniques are insufficient, and that he must undertake his own investigation. The proposed takeover includes a $1 billion breakup fee for each party, but Musk cannot simply pay the fee and walk away. According to the original filing, the merger agreement includes a specific performance provision that allows Twitter to compel Musk to complete the transaction. That could imply that, if the deal is challenged in court, Twitter could obtain an order requiring Musk to complete the merger rather than monetary compensation for any violations. Musk's lawyer, Mike Ringler of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, stated that Twitter must comply by delivering the requested data so that Musk can receive the debt financing needed to complete the transaction. Musk discussed "the future direction of social media, particularly the benefits of open social protocols" with Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, a current board member and former CEO. (Twitter is financing Bluesky, a separate social media protocol with email-like interoperability.) Musk also explored joining the Twitter board of directors with Egon Durban, co-CEO of the private equity firm Silver Lake and a former colleague of Musk's. Musk also revealed on the call with Durban that he had purchased a "large interest" in Twitter stock worth more than 5%. Musk exceeded the 5% ownership mark in Twitter on March 14, but did not declare it to the Securities and Exchange Commission until April 4, potentially in violation of securities rules. After Reuters reported on Monday that the board was planning to accept Musk’s offer,#RIPTwitter started trending on the platform. During a press briefing, White House press clerk Jen Psaki responded to the news." No matter who owns or runs Twitter, the chairman has long been concerned about the power large social media platforms have over our everyday lives," she said. Prior to the final advertisement of the deal, some US rightists had expressed stopgap that a Twitter controlled by Musk would live up to his pledges of promoting free speech above all additional. Rightsect politicians have long complained that they've been cleaned by Big Tech, despite studies to the negative. Twitter in particular has attracted their wrath for permanently suspending the account of Donald Trump after the former chairman was indicted of using the service to incite sympathizers to storm Capitol Hill onJan. 6, 2021. Musk considered joining the Twitter board of directors and other arrangements—taking Twitter private or creating a competitor social media service—during a discussion with Twitter board chair Bret Taylor and CEO Parag Agrawal. Starting a competitor site would have been an odd move for Musk, who had recently purchased a major part of Twitter's stock while publicly disagreeing with the company's management. Musk will explore these alternatives with board members in two more sessions in the coming days. Why did Elon feel the need to take a break? Social media is an essential part of leading a public life, but it comes with some challenges. One of the main issues is that it is difficult to control what people post and share on your behalf. Bots, which have been responsible for spreading misinformation across the web, have become a problem for a lot of social media platforms. Musk, who has a large following on Twitter, has been subject to many attacks on the platform by bots. Although Twitter has been working to take these bots off the platform, it’s likely that Musk will see a lot of them in the near future. What exactly are spam bots? Bots are programs that send out automated tweets, either for information (like the US government's "quakebot," which tweets the details of seismic events) or for enjoyment (like the US government's "quakebot," which tweets the specifics of seismic events). Musk, on the other hand, has focused his wrath on "spam bots," which are used to send out sales pitches or overstate a person's or cause's prominence. Musk, one of Twitter's most active celebrity users, is well aware of the issue, as his name and likeness are frequently imitated by phony accounts pushing cryptocurrency frauds. It's also a problem, according to Musk, for marketers who buy ads on the site based on the number of genuine people they anticipate to reach. So now Similar bots — and the way Twitter counts them — have come a sticking point in the deal. Twitter has long bared it has a" number of false or spam accounts" but estimates that they comprise smaller than 5 of its further than 200 million diurnal active druggies. Musk insists the company has been undercounting them and has demanded that Twitter turn over its internal data for him to examine. It's not clear whether he can fairly demand similar information after declining his right to conduct" due industriousness" on Twitter's internal account and operations. Some experts say a court will have to decide that. According to Quinn, this assertion is compounded by the fact that Musk has received commitment letters for debt funding from a number of financial institutions. Musk is likely to have had a different experience with bots on the platform than the majority of users. Those who create automated accounts program them to follow popular users on a website in order to blend in and appear more human. Musk, who has 96 million followers, is likely to attract a higher percentage of bots than most users. His image has also been used to run scams by cryptocurrency accounts. Though many outside estimates place the proportion of Twitter bots above the 5% threshold claimed by the company, their assessments and methodologies differ. Andrea Stroppa, a former World Economic Forum data consultant and expert on online counterfeit goods, estimates that bot accounts have accounted for roughly 10% of Twitter's global audience over the last nine years. According to the researcher, the rate rises to as much as 20% for some specific topics such as cryptocurrencies, and above 30% for accounts engaged in certain conspiracy theories. Ann M. Lipton an associate professor of commercial law and entrepreneurship at Tulane University Law School in New Orleans said that Musk would have to have a lot of proof to make it worthwhile for Twitter to give up rather than fight for the initial amount or It may turn into a ugly judicial battle. Musk feels Twitter's refusal to offer more information is a clear significant breach of Twitter's responsibilities under the merger agreement, and he reserves all rights arising from it, including the right not to complete the deal and the right to cancel the merger agreement.
