Elon Musk threatens to drop Twitter deal, citing concerns about bots

In a letter sent Monday to Vijaya Gadde, Twitter's top lawyer, Elon Musk threatened to pull out of purchasing the company, claiming Twitter has failed to address his concerns about the number of bots on the platform.

"Twitter has, in fact, refused to provide the information that Mr. Musk has repeatedly requested since May 9, 2022 to facilitate his evaluation of spam and fake accounts on the company's platform," the letter read. "Twitter's latest offer to simply provide additional details regarding the company's own testing methodologies, whether through written materials or verbal explanations, is tantamount to refusing Mr. Musk's data requests."

Because of this "clear material breach of Twitter's obligations," the letter continued, Musk "reserves all rights resulting therefrom, including his right not to consummate the transaction and his right to terminate the merger agreement."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

In April, Musk agreed to buy Twitter for $44 billion. CNN Business notes that "[s]ome Wall Street analysts have said [Musk's] pushback may be a case of buyer's remorse and an effort to pressure Twitter into negotiating a lower price." For the past week, fears that Elon might back out of the deal has kept Twitter's stock price at around $40 per share, well below the $54.20 per share Elon offered.

Last month, Musk said that despite the deal having been put "temporarily on hold pending details" about fake and spam accounts, he was "still committed" to acquiring Twitter.