Elon Musk challenged Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal to a public discussion on the proportion of bots
Elon Musk challenged Twitter Inc. CEO Parag Agrawal to a public debate about how many bots are on the social media site on Saturday. “Let him show to the public that Twitter has 5% fake or spam everyday users,” Musk remarked in a tweet. Additionally, he created a poll in which participants were asked whether they believed that less than 5% of regular Twitter users were spam or fake. Musk’s claim that he was tricked into signing a $44 billion contract to buy the company on Thursday was denied by Twitter. Musk filed a countersuit against Twitter on July 29. This increased the tension between him and the company over his demand that the acquisition agreement is canceled.
Earlier on Saturday, Musk argued that his plan to buy Twitter should proceed in accordance with the conditions of the original agreement if Twitter could reveal how it chose the 100 accounts for sampling and how it confirmed the accounts’ authenticity. On Saturday, August 6, just before one in the morning, Musk began tweeting in response to a fan who had summed up his criticisms of Twitter, including that it was refusing to respond to his questions and giving him “outdated data” and “a fake data set” when he asked how it determines mDAU and estimates for spam and bot accounts.
The CEO of Tesla and SpaceX wrote an excellent description of the problem. If Twitter only describes how it selects 100 accounts for sampling and confirms that they are real, the agreement shall be construed in accordance with its original terms. However, if their SEC filings are found to be materially false, it shouldn’t. During the Tesla 2022 shareholders meeting, Musk said, “I suppose in the case of Twitter, since I use it a lot, I shoot myself in the foot a lot, you know, dig my tomb, etc.” I think I have a good grasp of the product and am aware of the key areas on which Twitter’s engineering team should concentrate to make it much better.
He went on to say that a “very significant idea” he had for X.com or X Corporation, a business he had been pondering since his earliest days as a digital entrepreneur, would “benefit from speed” if it were to be implemented through Twitter.