JUST IN: Elon Musk ‘Still Committed’ to Twitter Takeover Despite Delay Pending Report on Proliferation of ‘Spam Bots’
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Elon Musk’s attempt to purchase Twitter is temporarily on hold pending an investigation into the number of bots that comprise the social media platform’s userbase.
Musk tweeted a Reuter’s report early Friday morning with a message that read: “Twitter deal temporarily on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam/ fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of users. UPDATE: Musk later clarified by adding a tweet that he is “Still committed to the acquisition.”
The Reuters post to which Musk linked offered more details, reported by Sheila Dang who wrote:
May 2 (Reuters) – Twitter Inc(TWTR.N)estimated in a filing on Monday that false or spam accounts represented fewer than 5% of its monetizable daily active users during the first quarter.
The social media company had 229 million users who were served advertising in the first quarter. read more
The disclosure came days after Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) Chief Executive Elon Musk, who has inked a deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion, tweeted that one of his priorities would be to remove “spam bots” from the platform.
Twitter shares slumped 11% pre-market trading after Musk’s tweeted the Reuters article, but Tesla shares rose as much as 4.9% during the same.
