Elon Musk threatens to pull out of Twitter deal without more information about fake accounts

The billionaire has claimed that far higher than 20% of accounts on Twitter could be "fake/spam" and said that his offer to acquire the company was based on Twitter's own reports being accurate.

Elon Musk is threatening to pull out of his deal to acquire Twitter alleging that the company has failed to disclosure the number of "spam and fake accounts" on the platform.

The billionaire, who claims to be spending less than 5% of his time on the $44bn takeover, has made a number of comments in recent weeks criticising Twitter and its management team.

A letter sent to the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday warns that Mr Musk could "terminate" the deal because Twitter is in "clear material breach" of the acquisition agreement.

Last month he had said the acquisition was temporarily on hold as he wanted to confirm the company's own figures that accounts not operated by real humans represented less than 5% of users.

He then expressed support for receiving a discount on his bid equal to the percentage of users who are spam bots.
The letter sent by Mr Musk's legal team says Twitter has "refused to provide the information that Mr Musk has repeatedly requested since 9 May 2022 to facilitate his evaluation of spam and fake accounts on the company's platform".
"Mr Musk believes the company is actively resisting and thwarting his information rights (and the company's corresponding obligations) under the merger agreement," the letter continues.