The Washington Post, citing three people familiar with the matter, writes that Musk’s biggest issue is a familiar one: fake accounts. The Tesla boss put the Twitter deal temporarily on hold back in May until he had confirmation that spam and fake accounts on the site really do represent less than 5% of its userbase, as stated in a company filing. The problem reared its head again last month when Musk said he could abandon the deal as Twitter is “actively resisting and thwarting” his information rights by refusing to provide information on the number of fake, spam, and bot accounts on the site. If this constituted a “material breach,” as Musk claimed, he would be able to stop the acquisition without paying the $1 billion termination fee. It appears that Musk’s camp still can’t verify the spam account figures Twitter has provided and is expected to take drastic action soon. This is despite Twitter saying yesterday that it has doubled the number of spam accounts it suspends daily from 500,000 in May to one million. That includes accounts identified and removed as they are created and never join the platform (so don’t count as daily users). Another factor in Musk’s cooling interest is likely Twitter’s share price. It was hovering around $45 when he made his bid in April. It now stands at around $37, making it appear that he is overpaying. However, a lower share price could allow Musk to force Twitter into renegotiating the deal so he could pay less for the company.
