Tesla CEO Elon Musk continues to delay the acquisition of social media platform Twitter, arguing that it cannot move forward until the number of bot accounts on the platform is known. In a tweet on the platform, Musk said his recommendation is based on “the accuracy of Twitter’s SEC filings” and that he believes there may be “or *more” bots on the platform.
Twitter has previously said that about five percent of accounts on its platform are bots or fake accounts. Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal recently published a thread outlining how the company measures spam on the platform, saying: “Our actual internal estimates for the last four quarters are less than 5% based on the method described above. The margin of error in our estimates. gives us confidence in our quarterly public statements.”
Agrawal later added that Twitter does not believe the number of bot accounts on the platform can be measured accurately, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk responded with a poop emoji:
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) 16 May 2022
Musk added in a tweet:
So how do advertisers know what they’re getting for their money? This is important to Twitter’s financial health.
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) 16 May 2022
Musk tweeted Tuesday morning that the deal won’t go ahead until Twitter confirms the claim of a very low bot number. He claims the bots are probably in the 20 percent “or *” range.
20% fake/spam account * which is 4x higher than what Twitter says may be higher.
My offer is based on the accuracy of Twitter SEC documents.
Yesterday, the Twitter CEO openly refused to provide <5% evidence.
This deal can’t move forward until he makes it.
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) 17 May 2022
Musk stopped taking Twitter due to concerns about bot accounts. “The Twitter deal is temporarily suspended pending details supporting its calculations that spam/fake accounts represent less than 5% of users,” Musk said in a tweet. Musk added that he is “still focused on winning.”
I’m still looking to get
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 13, 2022
Breitbart News reporter John Carney explained why bot account numbers are so important to Musk:
In a recent filing, Twitter said that in the first quarter of 2022, less than five percent of what it calls “monetizable daily active users” had “fake or spam accounts.” The tech community and many on Wall Street think this is too low. and the actual number is much higher. Twitter gave no indication of how it reached the 5% figure, leaving room for doubt. Musk wants to “see receipts,” as they say.
As an argument, let’s assume Twitter is wrong and the actual number of fake accounts is higher. If only a few percentage points are underreported, so seven percent is the true figure, perhaps not so important. If bots make up a third or even half of daily active Twitter users, this will be crucial.
Legal liability for underestimating boots of this size will be substantial. Lawsuits will be filed against advertisers who say they were deceived about how many real people viewed their accounts. Shareholders will sue, claiming that they bought shares at artificially high prices due to Twitter’s misrepresentations. Bondholders can sue, alleging that they have been deceived. Regulators such as the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Trade Commission can sue. Users can even sue Twitter successfully, proving that the idea is reaching real people and that they are spending time and money to increase their reach on the website based on the idea that “not reading” comes from 30 percent spam bots.
Read more of Breitbart’s news here.
Source: Breitbart
