Twitter’s statements about the number of bots or spam accounts present on the platform have made Elon Musk rethink his decision to acquire the entire company for $44 billion. The tycoon, let us remember, has paused the agreement previously agreed with the board of directors of Twitter, at least until they clarify how he has calculated that only 5% of active users are false accounts, although he assures that he is still committed to the purchase. . It does not rule out, yes, renegotiate the priceas confirmed by himself at a technology conference in Miami, as stated Washington Post.
“It’s not out of the question. The more questions I ask, the more my concerns grow,” Elon Musk highlighted in response to a question from one of the conference attendees, who wanted to know whether “at a different price” the Twitter deal could be “fully viable”. The truth is that the temporary suspension of the agreement itself already suggested a possible reduction in the purchase price. However, it is the first time that Musk himself confirms that he does not rule out presenting a new offer.
The tycoon goes on to state that spam accounts on Twitter represent much more than that 5% that the company assured after presenting the results of the first quarter of 2022. Elon Musk, specifically, believes that at least 20% of the profiles on the platform are bots. It also ensures that the number could be considerably higher. Meanwhile, Parag Agrawal, current CEO of the company, maintains that there are hardly any fake accounts active on the social network, but has not shown evidence to show that low percentage of spam accounts. Musk stresses that he will not move forward with the deal until Twitter presents details supporting that amount.
The CEO of Twitter alleges that there are hardly any spam accounts on the platform
Parag Agrawal, despite Musk’s accusations, has tried to clarify the controversy related to bots on Twitter through a publication on his official account. The head of the company alleges that it is not possible to make a specific estimate of the false accounts that circulate on the social networkbut that they suspend “more than half a million spam accounts every day”, even before they start sharing content on the platform.
Musk, who has responded to Agrawal’s thread with a poop emoji, noted in a tweet posted a few days ago that his team will start checks by performing “a random sample of 100 accounts” to see how many of these are spam. It also ensures that it is the method used by Twitter. In fact, Elon Musk tweeted again hours later confirming that the company’s legal team called him to warn him that he had violated the confidentiality agreement “by revealing that the bot verification sample size” is 100 accounts.