Reports: Twitter to provide Musk with raw daily tweet data

San Francisco, June 9 (BUS) : Twitter plans to give Elon Musk access to a “hose” of raw data on hundreds of millions of daily tweets in a bid to push Tesla billionaire’s $44 billion acquisition of social media. The platform, according to multiple news reports.


The attorneys involved in the transaction will not confirm the data-sharing agreement. Musk has not commented on Twitter, although he has previously been vocal about various aspects of the deal.


Twitter declined to confirm the reports and referred to a statement on Monday in which the company said it continues to share information “cooperatively” with Musk, The Associated Press reported.


Musk, who entered into a legally binding agreement to buy Twitter in April, stresses that the deal cannot continue unless the company provides more information about the prevalence of fake accounts on its platform. He has argued, without providing evidence, that Twitter has significantly reduced the number of “spam bots” – automated accounts that typically promote scams and misinformation – on its service.


On Monday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton also announced an investigation into Twitter over allegations it failed to detect the prevalence of fake spam and fake accounts, saying his office would look into “potential misreporting” of Twitter bots.


The Washington Post first reported on Twitter’s plan to provide Musk with full access to a fire hose, citing a person familiar with the matter. Other reports indicated that the billionaire may only get partial access.


The reported Twitter offer may weaken Musk’s attempts to use the spam bot issue to question the future of the deal. This week, Musk’s lawyers accused the company of refusing to provide information about the true number of bot accounts on Twitter.

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Mike Ringler, a Palo Alto California attorney who signed Monday’s letter, told the AP that he was not free to speak about the matter when he arrived Wednesday afternoon.


Fake social media accounts have been problematic for years. Advertisers rely on the number of users provided by social media platforms to decide where they will spend the money. Spam bots are also used to amplify messages and spread misinformation.

The problem of fake accounts is well known to Twitter and its investors. The company has disclosed its bot estimates to the US Securities and Exchange Commission for years, while also warning that its estimates could be too low.


Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal said Twitter has consistently estimated that less than 5% of its accounts are spam. But Musk disputed that number, arguing in a May tweet – without evidence – that 20% or more of Twitter accounts are fake.






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