Twitter and Elon Musk throw more insults and allegations at each other

[midian182]

What just happened? The latest development in the Elon Musk vs. Twitter spat has seen the platform make an SEC filing that rebuffs Musk's claims he was within his rights to back out of the $44 billion acquisition. Twitter says it is committed to completing the deal at the agreed $54.20 per share price—the current price is $41.06—and it plans to pursue legal action to force Musk into the purchase.

Musk had cited the number of fake accounts on Twitter as major point of contention. The world's richest man previously claimed Twitter's alleged refusal to reveal bot numbers constituted a material breach of the deal and allowed him to avoid the $1 billion breakup fee.

In a public filing, Twitter said Musk's claims were "a story, imagined in an effort to escape a merger agreement that Musk no longer found attractive once the stock market and along with it, his massive personal wealth, declined in value."

Twitter claims less than 5% of accounts on the site are fake. Musk's team, however, says at least 10% of daily active users who see ads are inauthentic, and Twitter is trying to conceal this figure. A recent legal filing alleges Twitter hid the total number of its users who see ads. As per The New York Times, the company responded by saying Musk is trying "to distort data received from Twitter to sponsor wild conclusions" and its data is accurate.

Musk's lawyers claim that using a tool called Botometer, designed by Indiana University to measure inauthentic accounts, analysts found that Twitter was lying about the number of fakes on the platform. It denies the allegations.

"Twitter was miscounting the number of false and spam accounts on its platform, as part of its scheme to mislead investors about the company's prospects," Musk's legal team wrote. "Twitter's disclosures have slowly unraveled, with Twitter frantically closing the gates on information in a desperate bid to prevent the Musk parties from uncovering its fraud."

Twitter previously made a "fire hose" of raw data consisting of every tweet posted every day available to Musk. He then claimed Twitter had placed an artificial cap on the number of searches his team could run on the data, but the reality was that it had hit the monthly limit of 100,000 queries, so Twitter increased the cap to 10 million. That still didn't satisfy Musk.

When Twitter sued Musk over him walking away from the deal, it said he treated the process like an "elaborate joke." Some of the memes Musk used to mock the situation, including one with internet favorite Chuck Norris, were used in the filing as proof.

pic.twitter.com/JcLMee61wj

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 11, 2022

"The counterclaims are a made-for-litigation tale that is contradicted by the evidence and common sense," Twitter said. "Musk invents representations Twitter never made and then tries to wield, selectively, the extensive confidential data Twitter provided him to conjure a breach of those purported representations."

pic.twitter.com/d5tSnoDs5s

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 11, 2022

The Financial Times writes that Twitter is "willing to go to war" if that what's needed to complete the deal, adding that CEO Parag Agrawal has been "more aggressive internally."

Twitter won the first battle in the legal case last month when the judge agreed to fast-track the trial. It will last just five days and start in October rather than next year, which is when Musk's camp wanted it to begin.

Twitter lost revenue in the second quarter, something it blamed on the turmoil caused by Musk's actions.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/95533-twitter-musk-throw-more-insults-allegations-each-other.html

 

[Uncle Al]

Hmmmm .... sounds like the "pot calling the kettle black" or is it "takes one to know one" ..... in any case, the facts are the facts ...

 

[psycros]

We all know that Twitter is ridden with bots the same as Facebook. Musk really should have known that, and probably did. I suspect he really had no interest in actually running Twitter but instead thought their lies would let him make some quick money off a settlement while simultaneously tanking their stock due to loss of confidence from advertisers. He would, of course, then scoop up a ton of that stock and end up effectively gaining partial control over Twitter anyway. These are the games the rich like to play.

 

[R00sT3R]

Its all getting a bit handbags at dawn, Isn't it...

 

[Bobbydpue]

"Musk had cited the number of fake accounts on Twitter as major point of contention. The world's richest man previously claimed Twitter's alleged refusal to reveal bot numbers constituted a material breach of the deal and allowed him to avoid the $1 billion breakup fee."

Any questions and investigations should have been completed before signing the purchase agreement, but Elon signed an agreement to purchase the company at a specific price before doing his due diligence. You don't look at reviews after you've purchased something hoping you bought the right thing....

 

[yRaz]

"Musk had cited the number of fake accounts on Twitter as major point of contention. The world's richest man previously claimed Twitter's alleged refusal to reveal bot numbers constituted a material breach of the deal and allowed him to avoid the $1 billion breakup fee."

Any questions and investigations should have been completed before signing the purchase agreement, but Elon signed an agreement to purchase the company at a specific price before doing his due diligence. You don't look at reviews after you've purchased something hoping you bought the right thing....

If Musk is right then Twitter breached their end of the contract and Musk is completely justified in backing out of the deal.

Something else I'd like to point out, although I have nothing to back this up, is Twitters extreme push to force Musk into buying them might be a sign that they are having problems internally and they want to get out while they still can.

Frankly, I see Twitter as awfully suspicious in this. And while you're right that he should have done his research BEFORE it's better than not doing it at all.

 

[fps4ever]

If Musk is right then Twitter breached their end of the contract and Musk is completely justified in backing out of the deal.

Something else I'd like to point out, although I have nothing to back this up, is Twitters extreme push to force Musk into buying them might be a sign that they are having problems internally and they want to get out while they still can.

Frankly, I see Twitter as awfully suspicious in this. And while you're right that he should have done his research BEFORE it's better than not doing it at all.

It's like a hostile takeover where the company being taken over screams foul with the cancellation of the deal they never wanted in the first place. Something seems really off with Twitter.

 

[George Keech]

It's like a hostile takeover where the company being taken over screams foul with the cancellation of the deal they never wanted in the first place. Something seems really off with Twitter.

I think the problem is the way its been handled I can imagine if Musk was anyone else and pulled out of the deal for this reason it might not have been an issue. but he has put so much shade twitters way and is now saying they are a bunch of liars that can effect a companies position and ability to run/ get more funding etc.

Its all just a load of crap from both sides. one produces misinformation and the other distributes it they are made for each other

 

[terzaerian]

They're both liars and I'm sick of hearing about it

 

[wiyosaya]

Another "National Enquirer" worthy article.

 

[waclark]

"Musk had cited the number of fake accounts on Twitter as major point of contention. The world's richest man previously claimed Twitter's alleged refusal to reveal bot numbers constituted a material breach of the deal and allowed him to avoid the $1 billion breakup fee."

Any questions and investigations should have been completed before signing the purchase agreement, but Elon signed an agreement to purchase the company at a specific price before doing his due diligence. You don't look at reviews after you've purchased something hoping you bought the right thing....

And just how are you going to get that data? Twitter isn't going to release that, that is obvious. A deal has to be struck with provisions, just like making an offer on a house contingent upon passing an inspection.

If Musk made a deal, based on a price that was falsified then he has every reason to back out, IMHO. If everything is kosher, then why is Twitter being so difficult about producing the actual verified and certified numbers? All it would take is an independent audit. Easy, peasy.

 

[sreams]

"Musk had cited the number of fake accounts on Twitter as major point of contention. The world's richest man previously claimed Twitter's alleged refusal to reveal bot numbers constituted a material breach of the deal and allowed him to avoid the $1 billion breakup fee."

Any questions and investigations should have been completed before signing the purchase agreement, but Elon signed an agreement to purchase the company at a specific price before doing his due diligence. You don't look at reviews after you've purchased something hoping you bought the right thing....

The question about what percentage of Twitter accounts were fake was asked and answered. The allegation is that Twitter lied about that number.

 

[umbala]

Hmmmm .... sounds like the "pot calling the kettle black" or is it "takes one to know one" ..... in any case, the facts are the facts ...

Uh, what? In any case, it takes one to know one. Like the saying goes, a bird in the bush is worth two in the hand ...

 

[umbala]

"Musk had cited the number of fake accounts on Twitter as major point of contention. The world's richest man previously claimed Twitter's alleged refusal to reveal bot numbers constituted a material breach of the deal and allowed him to avoid the $1 billion breakup fee."

Any questions and investigations should have been completed before signing the purchase agreement, but Elon signed an agreement to purchase the company at a specific price before doing his due diligence. You don't look at reviews after you've purchased something hoping you bought the right thing....

Also, he said he was buying Twitter to fix the massive bot problem. But now he won't buy it because it has too many bots. You can't even make heads or tails of what this guy wants.

 

[umbala]

We all know that Twitter is ridden with bots the same as Facebook. Musk really should have known that, and probably did. I suspect he really had no interest in actually running Twitter but instead thought their lies would let him make some quick money off a settlement while simultaneously tanking their stock due to loss of confidence from advertisers. He would, of course, then scoop up a ton of that stock and end up effectively gaining partial control over Twitter anyway. These are the games the rich like to play.

Everything you just said is complete nonsense. There will be no settlement where Musk walks away with any money. You don't offer to buy a company, then walk away, then sue them, and come out ahead with a bunch of money. That's just not how acquisitions work.

Secondly, he can't tank Twitter's stock with his shenanigans and then buy it at a lower price. I mean, this is like setting your neighbor's house on fire so you can buy it cheaper. People are going to notice your intent. Also, Twitter has already enacted a "poison pill" clause to stop this exact thing from happening, where Musk just buys controlling interest in the company.

 

[ZedRM]

I side with Elon. Twitter has already been proven to be liars. They lied about their user base numbers and then lied again to cover it up by claiming the mistake was due to spam accounts.

 

[Hodor]

Why would you buy Twitter? It's free, just open an account.
Jeeez...