Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk moved to terminate his $44 billion deal to buy Twitter on Friday, prompting a virtual avalanche of commentary — from both sides — on the social media platform.
Musk, who has asked from the beginning for data regarding how many fake/”bot” accounts there are across the social media site, sent a letter through his attorneys alleging that information had not been provided and demanding that the agreement be terminated.
“Mr. Musk and his financial advisors at Morgan Stanley have been requesting critical information from Twitter as far back as May 9, 2022—and repeatedly since then—on the relationship between Twitter’s disclosed mDAU figures and the prevalence of false or spam accounts on the platform,” the letter stated in part, adding, “Notwithstanding these repeated requests over the past two months, Twitter has still failed to provide much of the data and information responsive to Mr. Musk’s repeated requests.”
“Holy s***. The party really is over here,” Dave Rubin responded. The purge is coming. … Think about the bot/manipulation/corruption he found out about while doing due diligence. Probably can’t say anything because of non-disclosures. This explains Twitter’s more brazen suspensions and the increased shadowbanning lately. What a s***hole.”
Think about the bot/manipulation/corruption he found out about while doing due diligence. Probably can’t say anything because of non-disclosures.
This explains Twitter’s more brazen suspensions and the increased shadowbanning lately.
What a shithole.
— Dave Rubin (@RubinReport) July 8, 2022
“This was the last chance that something decent could be salvaged from the nightmare that Big Tech could become. The time to build new things was a long time ago,” Rubin continued.
Outkick founder and radio host Clay Travis suggested there still might be more to the situation than meets the eye, noting that the deal could still potentially be renegotiated.
“Elon Musk says he’s not buying Twitter for $44 billion because of all the bots & fake accounts. Twitter says it’s suing him to compel purchase. I’d bet on a lower purchase price being negotiated before all is done here,” he said.
“Welp, the communists still run Twitter. Not good. I get why @elonmusk is pulling out of the deal because it’s pretty clear there’s a spam problem but cultural Marxists in control of the online public square is NOT good going into critical elections. Censorship will intensify,” Robby Starbuck tweeted.
“Who ever saw this coming? Oh, wait. Everybody,” MSNBC host Joe Scarborough added.
“Elon Musk has terminated his deal to buy Twitter. But perhaps he’s got something up his sleeve,” Steven Crowder mused.
Twitter responded to the news as well, saying that they intended to hold Musk to the deal.
The Twitter Board is committed to closing the transaction on the price and terms agreed upon with Mr. Musk and plans to pursue legal action to enforce the merger agreement. We are confident we will prevail in the Delaware Court of Chancery.
— Bret Taylor (@btaylor) July 8, 2022
But Ashley St. Clair offered an alternative: “Elon Musk should just do a public boxing match with Parag Agrawal winner takes Twitter.”
Story cited here.
