Elon Musk has threatened to pull out of his deal to buy Twitter after weeks of debating the number of bots on the app. Musk had maintained that he was concerned there were more bots on the app than the company stated.
In a letter to Twitter’s head of legal, policy and trust, Vijaya Gadde, Musk alleged that Twitter is “actively resisting and thwarting his information rights” as outlined by the deal. The letter goes ahead to say it was “a clear material breach of Twitter’s obligations under the merger agreement and Mr. Musk reserves all rights resulting therefrom, including his right NOT to consummate the transaction and his right to terminate the merger agreement.”
In the US, the Texas state attorney general promised to investigate the number of Texan bot users on Twitter. A statement that has got Twitter users calling the AG out for not focusing on the recent shooting in his state.
In response to Musk’s claims, Twitter issued a statement saying, “(they have) and will continue to cooperatively share information with Mr. Musk to consummate the transaction in accordance with the terms of the merger agreement.” The company also said it intends to “close the transaction and enforce the merger agreement at the agreed price and terms.”
Meanwhile, an investor William Heresniak, who said he was acting “on behalf of himself and all others similarly situated” had earlier sued Musk for not disclosing early enough that he had a significant stake in Twitter or that he had plans of becoming a board member. The lawsuit said Musk’s tweets constituted an effort to manipulate the market for Twitter shares as he had insider information about the fake accounts.
Musk who has said he will make sure free speech is upheld on Twitter was embroiled in a freedom of speech scandal when his company, Tesla allegedly paid a PR firm to monitor employees in a Facebook group and more broadly on social media back in 2017.