Note: The views and opinions expressed in blog/editorial posts are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the views or opinions of Misbar.
The Tesla CEO announced seeking to end the $44bn deal to buy Twitter, alleging multiple breaches of the agreement. The world’s richest man said he pulled out of the deal after “Twitter failed to provide enough information on the number of spam and fake accounts.”
Musk Withdraws the Twitter Acquisition Deal
The Guardian quoted Musk’s lawyers to Twitter as saying “Mr. Musk is terminating the merger agreement because Twitter is in material breach of multiple provisions of that agreement, appears to have made false and misleading representations upon which Mr. Musk relied when entering into the merger agreement, and is likely to suffer a Company Material Adverse Effect.”
According to The Guardian, withdrawing from the deal will not be this easy since Elon Musk will have to give evidence that Twitter breached the agreement, or he would risk being sued for a $1bn breakup fee.
Photo description: Musk has to prove Twitter breached the agreement (Screenshot from a CNBC article).
Regarding the social media giant, it expressed plans to pursue legal actions to enforce the agreement. According to Twitter chairman Bret Taylor, the Twitter board is committed to closing the transaction on the price and terms agreed upon with the Tesla CEO. He added that the company is confident it would prevail in the Delaware Court of Chancery.
Misinformation Follows Elon Musk’s Cancellation of the Deal
As Elon Musk plans to withdraw the $44bn bid to buy Twitter, a wave of misinformation surfaced online. U.S. former president Donald Trump posted on Truth Social on July 12, 2022, he wrote: “When Elon Musk came to the White House asking me for help on all of his many subsidized projects, whether it’s electric cars that don’t drive long enough, driverless cars that crash, or rocketships to nowhere, without which subsidies he’d be worthless and telling me how he was a big Trump fan and Republican, I could have said, ‘drop to your knees and beg,’ and he would have done it…”
A social media user has referred to Trump’s post on the Truth Social app in a fake Screenshot of an Insider headline claiming to show Elon Musk’s response to the former president. The alleged screenshot features a photograph of Trump speaking and Musk carefully listening, and the headline reads: “Musk claims Trump was the one on his knees and he was ‘surprisingly good with his mouth.” The image also features the byline “Cheryl Teh” and shows that the article was uploaded online on July 12, 2022, at 11:47 PM.
However, Insider did not publish such an article, and Misbar’s team did not find reliable evidence that Musk made such a statement. Running a Google Image Reverse Search revealed another headline with a similar byline and picture reading: “Trump ramps up feud with Elon Musk, claiming he could have made Musk drop to his knees and beg for help when he was president.”
As Musk announced he was planning to terminate the deal to buy Twitter, other users circulated a screenshot claiming it depicts Elon Musk’s official Twitter account after it got suspended by the social media giant. A Twitter user has written attached to the alleged screenshot: “Elon Musk: ‘I’m terminating my deal to buy Twitter.’ Twitter to @eIonmusk.” The user also tagged the account @eIonmusk in their tweet.
After investigating the widely circulated claim, we found it fake. Musk’s official Twitter account @elonmusk is active, and the claim’s generators have used a fake suspended account @eIonmusk with a capital “i” and not an “L” in Elon’s name.
Musk, Twitter, and the Misinformation Battle
As Elon Musk was planning to buy Twitter, he already claimed that 20% of the accounts on the platform were fake. Musk wrote on his official Twitter account that the platform’s CEO has then refused to show proof of <5% and that the deal could not move forward until he does. Meanwhile, Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal said Twitter suspends over half a million spam accounts daily and locks millions of accounts it suspects may be spam each week.
Our previous blog on audit revealing nearly half of President Biden’s followers are fake accounts mentioned that a severe discussion emerged about the fake Twitter followers and Musk using it to get a better deal to acquire the company. Reports noted that Musk’s acquisition of Twitter stirred a debate in the U.S. about freedom of speech and Twitter’s role in regulating the flow of information, especially after the Tesla CEO complained about the platform’s moderation of Tweets.
Meanwhile, several experts explained to CNBC how Elon Musk has a wrong approach to counting fakes and spam accounts on Twitter. And other reports pointed at the billionaire as a “triple threat” and said he is “the wrong man to exercise sole control of the wrong company at the wrong time.”
Concerning the Twitter misinformation policies and as a response to Musk, the platform recently announced that it would delete over a million spam accounts daily to counter fakes spreading harmful and automated retweets after the company was only suspending 500,000 spam accounts daily.
Misbar’s Sources:
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