Elon Musk says $44bn Twitter deal ‘temporarily on hold’
NEW YORK: Elon Musk tweeted that his $44 billion takeover of Twitter Inc. is “temporarily on hold” until the billionaire receives more information about the proportion of fake accounts but said that he is “still committed” to buying teh social media company, sending the social media giant into a tailspin.
Twitter slumped 20% in premarket trading after Musk tweeted Friday that the deal was suspended, pending details on a recent filing from Twitter that fake accounts on the social media platform contributed less than 5% of its users. Tesla Inc. shares rose roughly 5%.
Twitter said in its latest quarterly results “that the average of false or spam accounts during the first quarter of 2022 represented fewer than 5% of our monthly daily active users during the quarter.” However, Twitter said it applied “significant judgment” to its latest estimate, and the true number could be higher.
Fighting fake accounts has been a cornerstone of Musk’s bid to reform Twitter. In a statement announcing his deal to buy the company last month, he revealed he wanted to defeat spam bots, authenticate all humans, and make its algorithms open source. Musk has also said he’d like to make the platform a bastion of free speech.
Bots are currently allowed on Twitter, though under the company’s policy such accounts are supposed to indicate that they’re automated. The platform has even launched a label for “good” bots, such as @tinycarebot, an account that tweets self-care reminders. Spam bots, however, are not permitted, and the company has policies meant to combat them.