World’s richest man, Elon Musk, has suspended his Twitter deal over spam and fake accounts on the microblogging site, a month after the firm’s board agreed to sell the company to him, IgbereTV reports
Musk took to his Twitter account to disclose that the deal would be temporary put on hold until a probe into the percentage held by fake accounts, which the billionaire has threatened to eradicate.
IgbereTV had reported that Musk agreed to acquire 100% of Twitter at the cost of about $43 billion, and has been raising capital from banks and private investors to fund the deal.
One of his many goals after the acquisition of Twitter was to eliminate spam accounts, also known as bot, “If our twitter bid succeeds, we will defeat the spam bots or die trying!” he had tweeted on April 21.
It was gathered that bot handles account for about 5% of Twitter’s 229 million users. And with Musk coming in gunblazing, Twitter had stated earlier this month that there’s a “potential uncertainty regarding” the social media’s future, as well as its “plans and strategy.”
Commenting on Friday, Musk wrote, “Twitter deal temporarily on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of users.” He wrote while sharing a publication.
Musk has also tackled bot accounts on Twitter earlier this month, stating, “There is so much potential with Twitter to be the most trusted & broadly inclusive forum in the world!
“That is why we must clear out bots, spam & scams. Is something actually public opinion or just someone operating 100k fake accounts? Right now, you can’t tell.” He wrote on May 3.
