Report: Twitter will provide raw daily tweet data to Musk
Highlight
- Lawyers involved in the deal will not ratify the data sharing agreement
- Musk did not comment on Twitter, although he has been vocal about various aspects before.
- Twitter declined to confirm the reports
Twitter plans to give Elon Musk access to its “firehose” of raw data in an effort to advance its $44 billion acquisition of the Tesla billionaire’s social media platform, according to multiple news reports.
Lawyers involved in the deal would not ratify the data sharing agreement. Musk did not comment on Twitter, although he has previously been vocal about various aspects of the deal. Twitter declined to confirm the reports and pointed to a Monday statement in which the company said it was continuing to share information “cooperatively” with Musk.
Musk, who in April entered into a legally binding agreement to buy Twitter, argues that the deal cannot proceed until the company provides more information about the proliferation of fake accounts on its platform. They have argued, without offering evidence, that Twitter has significantly underestimated the number of these “spam bots” – automated accounts that usually promote scams and misinformation – on their service.
On Monday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton also announced an investigation into Twitter for its alleged failure to disclose the extent of its spam bots and fake accounts, saying that his office was “potentially false reporting” of bots on Twitter. Will look into
The Washington Post first reported Twitter’s plan to give Musk full access to Firehose, citing a person familiar with the matter. Other reports suggested that the billionaire may only have partial access.
Twitter’s reported offering could blunt Musk’s efforts to use the spam bot issue to cast doubts over the future of the deal. This week, Musk’s lawyers accused the company of refusing to provide information about the exact number of bot accounts on Twitter. Mike Ringler, the Palo Alto, Calif., attorney who signed that Monday’s letter, told the AP that he was not at liberty to speak about the matter when it arrived Wednesday afternoon.
Fake social media accounts have been a problem for years. Advertisers rely on the number of users provided by social media platforms to determine where they will spend the money. Spam bots are also used to amplify messages and spread misinformation.
Twitter and its investors are well aware of the problem of fake accounts. The company has disclosed its bot estimates to the US Securities and Exchange Commission for years, while also warning that its estimates may be too low.
Twitter CEO Parag Agarwal has said that Twitter consistently estimates that less than 5% of its accounts are spam. But Musk disputes that figure, in a May tweet — without evidence — that 20% or more of Twitter accounts are bogus.
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