Musk wars with Twitter over his buyout deal — on Twitter

Tesla CEO Elon Musk promised that taking over Twitter would enable him to rid the social media platform of its annoying “spam bots.” Now he’s arguing — without presenting any evidence — that there might be just too many of those automated accounts for the $44 billion deal to move ahead.

The sharp turnaround by the world’s richest man makes little sense except as a method to scuttle or renegotiate a deal that’s becoming increasingly costly for him, experts said. And while such hardball tactics aren’t uncommon in corporate mergers, the way this is playing out — in a highly public, seemingly erratic conversation on the very platform Musk wants to buy — has little precedent.

Which means that Musk is negotiating the future of Twitter … on Twitter.

It’s increasingly clear that Musk realizes his offer was too high and is looking for a way “to potentially walk away or negotiate the price down,” said Brian Quinn, an associate law professor at Boston College.

Early Tuesday, Musk tweeted that his deal to buy the company can’t “move forward” unless the company shows public proof that fewer than 5% of the accounts on the social media platform are fake or spam bots.