Elon Musk Threatens to Walk Away From Twitter Deal Due to Lack of Data on Spam and Fake Accounts

On Monday, Elon Musk threatened to walk away from his Twitter purchase, accusing the social media platform of breaking the merger agreement by refusing to provide data on spam and fake accounts that he had asked for.

Musk said in a letter to Vijaya Gadde, Twitter’s head of legal, policy, and trust, that Twitter is “actively resisting and thwarting his information rights.

“This is a clear material breach of Twitter’s obligations under the merger agreement. Mr. Musk reserves all rights resulting from there, including his right not to consummate the transaction and his right to terminate the merger agreement,” Musk’s attorney wrote.

Musk has asked that Twitter provide information regarding its testing procedures to back up its claim that bots and fake accounts make up less than 5% of total active users. In addition, Musk has stated he will make his independent assessment using Twitter data.

During the early Monday trade, Twitter’s stock plunged 5%. Even before this latest development, Twitter shares traded considerably below Musk’s $54.20 per share takeover offer, signaling investor uncertainty about the deal’s success.

According to the letter, Twitter attempted to limit access to the information by narrowly interpreting the merger agreement, claiming that supplying the information would fall outside Twitter’s contractual obligations. However, the letter claimed that even if Twitter’s criteria are restricted, it is still obligated to provide the information.

Musk renounced a due diligence clause in the purchase that may have made it simpler for him to get out, according to a separate securities filing by Twitter; without it, Musk could face a steeper climb and the possibility of a lawsuit.

Musk has made spam bots on Twitter a primary concern in his agreement to buy the platform. Even as he has praised Twitter as critical to “the future of civilization,” he has promised to fight them or “die trying.”