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Tag: bots

  • ‘Twitter has spoken’, says Musk as 65% back his claims on fake users in poll

    ‘Twitter has spoken’, says Musk as 65% back his claims on fake users in poll

    Mumbai: The Twitter-Elon Musk wrangle does not seem to be resolving itself any time soon, with both sides trading charges and counter charges. A Twitter poll by the Tesla CEO has revealed that nearly 65 per cent of his followers do not believe Twitter’s claims on the percentage of fake/spam accounts on the platform.

    The Tesla CEO conducted the poll on Saturday on whether “less than five per cent of Twitter daily users are fake/spam?” to be answered with a Yes/No. The billionaire triumphantly declared the results of the online poll on Monday: “Twitter has spoken …”, disclosing that 64.9 per cent of over eight lakh users who participated in the poll believe that Twitter’s claims that less than five per cent of its active users are bots is not true.

    Some of the Twitterati went so far as to accuse the networking giant of trying to hide its actual bot count, with Musk emphatically agreeing to the accusation.

    The Tesla CEO is engaged in a fierce legal battle with Twitter after he backed out of his $44 billion acquisition deal, claiming the social media giant did not keep up its part of the deal by disclosing the correct data on spam and bot accounts on the platform. Twitter claims that spam profiles account for only five per cent of its daily active users.

    Earlier, Musk challenged Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal to a “public debate” over the issue of fake accounts on the platform. In multiple tweets, while replying to a follower’s tweet summarising the highlights of the $44 billion acquisition offer to buy Twitter, Musk asserted that the social media company’s method of estimating spam bots and accounts is flawed and “materially false.”

    The billionaire currently faces a lawsuit after breaching the $44 billion acquisition agreement of the social media company.

    ALSO READ  Twitter sues Elon Musk for breaching $44 bn deal, he reacts with a meme

    ALSO READ | The Twitter-Elon Musk tussle: To be ‘bot’ or not to be

  • Twitter sues Elon Musk for breaching $44 bn deal, he reacts with a meme

    Twitter sues Elon Musk for breaching $44 bn deal, he reacts with a meme

    Mumbai: Tesla CEO Elon Musk was quick to react to a lawsuit filed against him by Twitter for breaching the $44 billion contract in his trademark maverick style – with a meme.

    Twitter recently sued the billionaire for violating the deal to buy the micro blogging platform, accusing him of hypocrisy and asked a Delaware court to order Musk to complete the merger at the agreed $54.20 per Twitter share, according to a court filing.  

    “Musk apparently believes that he – unlike every other party subject to Delaware contract law – is free to change his mind, trash the company, disrupt its operations, destroy stockholder value, and walk away,” stated the lawsuit.

    “Twitter brings this action to enjoin Musk from further breaches, to compel Musk to fulfil his legal obligations, and to compel consummation of the merger upon satisfaction of the few outstanding conditions,” Twitter asserted in the lawsuit.

    In response to the news of the lawsuit, Musk took to the microblogging site and simply tweeted, “Oh the irony lol.” Earlier, he had responded to reports of Twitter taking him to court with a hilarious meme which seemed to take potshots at the social media giant’s decision.”

    The meme, accompanied by images of a laughing Musk, read: They said I cannot buy Twitter. Then they wouldn’t disclose bot info. Now they want to force me to buy Twitter in court. Now they have to disclose both info in court.

    The lawsuit could be the beginning of a long-drawn-out legal battle with both parties unwilling to climb down from their stances, as Twitter seeks to hold Musk to his deal to pay $44 billion for the company. The litigation accused Musk of “a long list” of violations of the merger agreement that “have cast a pall over Twitter and its business.”

    Last week, the Tesla CEO said he was terminating the merger because Twitter violated the agreement by failing to respond to requests for information regarding fake or spam accounts on the platforms. Musk said the lack of information about spam accounts and inaccurate representations amounted to a “material adverse event.”

    The standoff between the two parties has been ongoing for a while now, specifically since April this year when Musk reached an acquisition agreement with Twitter at $54.20 per share in a transaction valued at approximately $44 billion. Since then, however, Musk has been challenging Twitter’s claim that less than five per cent of accounts on the platform are bots or spam, even putting the deal on hold in May to allow his team to review the veracity of Twitter’s claim.

    ALSO READ | The Twitter-Elon Musk tussle: To be ‘bot’ or not to be

    In June, Musk had openly accused the social media company of breaching the merger agreement and threatened to walk away and call off the acquisition of the micro blogging site for not providing the data he has requested on spam and fake accounts.

  • The Twitter-Elon Musk tussle: To be ‘bot’ or not to be

    The Twitter-Elon Musk tussle: To be ‘bot’ or not to be

    Mumbai: The Twitter acquisition drama has been playing out- where else but on Twitter- on a daily basis (or hourly, if you go by Musk’s tweets) for the last several weeks. The latest in the Elon Musk-Twitter saga is that the Twitter Inc board has decided to go ahead and enforce its $44 billion agreement to be bought by Elon Musk. The board’s statement comes on the back of multiple tweets from Musk in the last several days that seem to indicate that the billionaire appears to be rethinking the whole deal.  

    “We intend to close the transaction and enforce the merger agreement,” the board said on Tuesday in a statement, adding, “the transaction is in the best interest of all shareholders.”

    Prior to this, the board voted to unanimously recommend that shareholders approve Musk’s $54.20 per share offer.

    Earlier on Tuesday, Elon Musk intensified his very public dispute with the Twitter CEO on the matter of bots or fake accounts on the platform, saying his acquisition of the social media company “cannot move forward” until he sees more information about the prevalence of spam accounts.

    “20% fake/spam accounts, while 4 times what Twitter claims, could be *much* higher. My offer was based on Twitter’s SEC filings being accurate. Yesterday, Twitter’s CEO publicly refused to show proof of <5%. This deal cannot move forward until he does,” Musk tweeted, citing an article by Teslarati, (which, by the way, is a media company and a publisher of news on Tesla, SpaceX, and ventures, affiliated with Musk himself!) that said, “Elon Musk may be looking for a better Twitter deal as $44 billion seems too high with 20% of users being fake or spam accounts.”

    The article suggested Twitter’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission were misleading. The company has maintained that less than five per cent of its daily active users are spam accounts.

    In yet another twist in the proposed acquisition, earlier on Friday, Musk had tweeted that his planned $44 billion purchase of Twitter is “temporarily on hold” pending details on spam and fake accounts on the social media platform.

    The proposed takeover includes a $ one billion breakup fee for each party, which means Musk will have to pay the said amount if he ends the deal or fails to deliver the acquisition funding as promised. Musk might be exempted from that requirement only if he can show a material change in the company’s situation or the information it has provided.

    This is just the latest in a series of twists and U-turns that have been doing the rounds on the platform, regarding the company’s take over by Musk amid increasing signs of internal turmoil between the two parties.

    In fact, ever since the billionaire grandly announced his offer to buy out the micro blogging platform on 14 April, the platform has been abuzz with new speculations on the acquisition front, mostly triggered by the Tesla founder himself. Musk has been highly active on the platform even before that, and became more so vocal about the site’s alleged shortcomings when he started building his stake in the company and became an active investor in April this year.

    This led to speculations on Musk being keen to join the company’s board, further amplified by the Twitter CEO’s own tweet on 5 April welcoming Musk onboard, where Agrawal wrote about the billionaire: “He’s both a passionate believer and intense critic of the service which is exactly what we need on @Twitter, and in the boardroom, to make us stronger in the long-term.”

    However, Musk surprised everyone- most of all, the Twitter management- by rejecting the company’s offer to join its board, instead offering to buy out the company itself!

    With Twitter now committed to completing the sale even as Musk continues to drag his feet over it, it remains to be seen how the rest of this very public saga plays out!