Musk: "Twitter Must Prove Fake Account Ratio Is Below 5% to Complete Acquisition"

Mockery Despite Twitter CEO's Explanation

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, attended the 2022 Met Gala held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, USA, on the 2nd (local time) with his mother. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Minwoo Lee] Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, stated that Twitter must prove that the proportion of fake accounts is below 5% for the acquisition deal to proceed.

On the 17th (local time), foreign media including Bloomberg reported that Musk emphasized once again that Twitter must prove the ratio of fake accounts such as fake accounts and spambots (automated accounts used for spam) as a condition for resuming the acquisition deal.

On that day, Musk said on his Twitter account, "The proportion of spambots on Twitter is much higher than 5%," adding, "If they cannot prove it is below 5%, this deal will not proceed."

Earlier, on the 13th, he had also stated, "I am temporarily pausing the acquisition deal while waiting for specific evidence supporting the calculation that spam and fake accounts on Twitter are less than 5% of Twitter users." The following day, he attended a conference in Miami, Florida, and maintained the same opinion. Musk said, "I am waiting for Twitter to provide a logical explanation about fake accounts, but I have not yet seen any analysis proving that fake accounts are less than 5%. I estimate that at least 20% of Twitter accounts are fake."

In response, Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal explained on his Twitter account, "We delete more than 500,000 spam accounts daily," adding, "Due to privacy concerns, we cannot disclose the removal process, and it is practically difficult for outsiders to determine the spam bot ratio." Musk mocked Agrawal by leaving a smiling poop emoji in the comments.

Bloomberg reported that there is growing suspicion that Musk's remarks are a strategy to lower the acquisition price of Twitter. Musk revealed on the 4th of last month that he held a 9.2% stake in Twitter, and on the 25th of last month, he proposed to acquire Twitter at $54.20 per share, totaling $44 billion. At that time, Twitter's stock price rose above $50, but when Musk hinted at the possibility of halting the deal, the stock price plummeted to the $37 range based on the previous day's closing price.