Twitter Calls Elon Musk’s Bluff
Your move, Elon.
Elon Musk seems to have been threatening to pull out of his Twitter buyout deal almost as soon as he made the offer. After Musk said earlier this week he might exit the deal over Twitter refusing to share its data about spam accounts, the company has apparently pulled a 180. Twitter is now reportedly offering to give Musk more data than he may know what to do with.
Variety reports that Twitter is now ready to hit Elon Musk with a “firehose” of data concerning all of the more than 500 million daily posts to the site. The move is in response to a letter from Musk’s lawyers in which they claim Twitter was “in breach” of the deal by not sharing the data. Musk wants the data to confirm the claim from the social media company that he apparently is skeptical about: that spam and fake accounts are responsible for less than 5% of the site’s traffic.
Variety points out that Elon Musk isn’t the only person skeptical about Twitter’s claim. Certain independent research groups estimate the posts from spam and fake accounts are more along the lines of 10%. However, the outlet notes that one point of contention may be what exactly does constitute a spam or fake account, which is not entirely clear.
Elon Musk’s bid to purchase Twitter coincides with news about the eccentric SpaceX founder ranging from weird to scandalous. In May, Business Insider reported on allegations of sexual harassment against Musk. According to the unidentified friend of a former SpaceX flight attendant, in 2016 Musk offered to buy the attendant a horse if she performed sexual acts for him. After she refused she allegedly found herself offered fewer and fewer work shifts. When she reported the incident, she was allegedly given a $250,000 severance offer and the signing of a non-disclosure agreement was reportedly part of the deal. The former SpaceX employee who was the alleged victim has not commented herself.
Just a week ago in a since deleted tweet, Elon Musk sparked a very public fight with the publication Hard Drive. Musk posted an article from the magazine but without crediting the magazine or the writer. Hard Drive responded by offering to buy Musk “a horse” to not do the same thing again. The billionaire responded, opening himself up to more barbs. You can see that exchange below.
Of the more controversial things Elon Musk has said he wants to do if/when the purchase of Twitter is finalized is opening the door to bring former President Donald Trump back to the platform. After the January 2021 Insurrection attempt, Trump was banned from Twitter along with a long list of other social media platforms for allegedly inciting violence. Musk called the lifetime ban on Trump from Twitter “morally wrong and flat-out stupid.” For his part, Trump has assured the public he has no intention of going back to Twitter, but prefers to keep his covfefe to his own platform, Truth Social.
