Amid Twitter deal halt over bot numbers, Musk asks SEC to probe
Amid the Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s Twitter take over, the tech billionaire has asked the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to probe whether Twitter’s claim on the number of its user base is true.
Musk earlier said that the $44 billion Twitter deal “cannot move forward” until Agrawal proves the exact bot numbers.
Replying to a follower who said that if it turns out that Twitter lied in the official filing, serious consequences and complete distrust of investors can await it, Musk replied: “Hello SEC Gov, anyone home?”
Musk has started a poll among his over 93 million followers. He tweeted, “Twitter claims that >95% of daily active users are real, unique humans. Does anyone have that experience?”
Twitter claims that >95% of daily active users are real, unique humans. Does anyone have that experience?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 17, 2022
Musk also tweeted, “20% fake/ spam accounts, while 4 times what Twitter claims, could be much higher. My offer was based on Twitter’s SEC filings being accurate. Yesterday, Twitter’s CEO publicly refused to show proof of <5%. This deal cannot move forward until he does.”
Elon Musk may be looking for a better Twitter deal as $44 billion seems too high with 20% of users being fake or spam accounts.https://t.co/rZ9Jsn60Mh pic.twitter.com/dQDVva3klZ
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) May 17, 2022
On Monday, Musk attacked Agrawal after the Twitter CEO went into finer details on how the micro-blogging platform is fighting spam and fake accounts. The Tesla CEO even posted an emoji depicting a “pile of poop” to Agrawal on his Twitter thread.
While Twitter said in its SEC filing that less than 5 percent of its monetizable daily active users (mDAUs) are fake, Musk believes the number of bots is four times higher.
A user replied: “I have to think @elonmusk knew this was the case before he moved on Twitter. If Twitter lied about how many actual users they have to the SEC, we’re looking at a company that has perpetrated fraud on its shareholders and advertisers. Big trouble for the Twitter commies.”
“Absolutely, seems like Twitter should welcome external validation if their claims are true,” he added. In a series of tweets, Musk mentioned that the CEO publicly refused to show proof of less than 5 percent bots.
Musk, at a conference in Miami, said that Twitter could have at least four times more fake accounts than what has been revealed in its filing.
[With Inputs from IANS]
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Troubled & real times for Twitter to hit them hard on fake accounts. Truth is a dynamite, it is likely to explode in immediate future. Credibility of big IT companies is in serious question. Twitter spread fake messages, so will go down for same reasons.