The billionaire would not be able to confirm Twitter figures as to the number of fake accounts on the platform.
When it wants not, it does not want! In an article, the Washington Post returns once again to Elon Musk’s doubts about the takeover of Twitter. And the announcement: the deal would indeed be “in danger”.
Musk has been blowing hot and cold for weeks, notably challenging the number of fake accounts and bots active on the platform. He is convinced that the figure advanced by Twitter, located around 5%, is largely underestimated.
After being reluctant to do so for a long time, Twitter finally gave him the keys to its “Firehose” database a month ago, so that Musk could carry out his own investigations into the number of bogus accounts. As a reminder, this valuable database includes all the tweets published.
Data that cannot be verified?
A month later, the analysis was obviously inconclusive: according to the Washington Post, Musk’s teams failed to verify the figures given by Twitter. And the boss of Tesla would have already taken measures in the light of these conclusions. Musk is said to have ceased discussions with one of the parties supposed to help him finance the project at 44 billion euros, a colossal buyout, even for the richest man in the world.
The newspaper even mentions that it could take a “radical measure” very soon, according to an anonymous source… without specifying which one. Cancel, or ask for a significant discount? Everything seems possible, even if it will be complicated for Musk to withdraw without leaving feathers, since he has already committed, by contract, to buy the platform in April. Contract which obliges him to pay 1 billion dollars if the sale did not finally take place.
Twitter maintains the figure of 5%
By a curious coincidence of timing, Twitter officials also wanted to make their voices heard yesterday, during a conference with some American journalists. The purpose of the meeting, of which the Wall Street Journal echoed at length ? Remember, once again, that fake accounts represent less than 5% of the platform’s daily users. But also that it is almost impossible, by a simple audit of the “Firehose” database, to corroborate this figure, given that the personal data of Twitter users have not been transmitted to Musk’s teams (mail, geolocation, etc.)
The company also denied that the takeover was “pending” and that negotiations were progressing as planned. Obviously, it’s a bit more complicated than that.
Source :
The Washington Post