Home » US business news » Elon Musk challenges Twitter CEO to debate on bots as takeover saga rumbles on

Elon Musk challenges Twitter CEO to debate on bots as takeover saga rumbles on

By Nithya Bose in US business news, posted August 8, 2022

Elon Muskn wants to debate Twitter CEO Parag Agarwal in public over how the social media company counts fake accounts and spam bots.

In the latest round of Musk sparring with the company he once wanted to buy, he has now replied to a tweet post by cybersecurity researcher Andrea Stroppa outlining his countersuit against Twitter.

The Tesla CEO wrote he would go ahead with the $44 billion takeover if the social media platform divulged the way it tracks bots.

Musk wrote: "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,".

In a follow-up tweet, he added: "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!"

He also set up a poll, asking for yes or no responses to the question "Less than 5% of Twitter daily users are fake/spam."

The percentage of Twitter users who are actually bots or phony accounts has been critical in Musk's legal battle with the firm.

Musk stated that he intended to pull out of his plan to acquire Twitter, citing his view that Twitter has significantly more bots and bogus accounts than it admits.

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He also claimed that Twitter withheld bot information from him, which the firm denied.

The CEO of Tesla and SpaceX believes that at least 20 percent of Twitter's daily active users are bogus or spam accounts.

While Twitter argues the percentage is less than five percent, Musk says he hasn't seen any proof to back up that assertion and will not forward with the acquisition until he does.

Twitter has asserted in court that Musk is attempting to derail the deal on purpose, citing the bot question as an excuse, because market conditions have altered and the takeover no more fits his interests.

Musk slammed Twitter for purposely "miscounting" the number of spam accounts on its network as part of a "scheme to mislead investors about the company's prospects" in his recent countersuit.

Source: Yahoo! Finance

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