According to various news sources, Twitter aims to give Elon Musk access to its "fire hose" of raw data on hundreds of millions of daily tweets to accelerate the Tesla billionaire's $44 billion takeovers of social media sites.
The data-sharing agreement was not confirmed by the lawyers engaged in the transaction. Musk did not respond on Twitter, despite previously being vociferous about certain parts of the acquisition. Twitter declined to corroborate the accusations, citing a Monday statement in which the company stated that it is still "cooperatively" sharing information with Musk.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton initiated an inquiry into Twitter on Monday for allegedly failing to reveal the scope of its spam bot and phony accounts, stating his agency will investigate into "possible fraudulent reporting" of bots on Twitter.
According to a person familiar with the situation, the Washington Post was the first to expose Twitter's plan to give Musk complete access to the firehose. According to some stories, the millionaire may only have limited access.
The rumored offer from Twitter might undercut Musk's attempts to use the spam bot issue to throw doubt on the deal's viability. This week, Musk's attorneys accused Twitter of refusing to provide information regarding the exact number of bot accounts on the platform.
When reached Wednesday afternoon, Mike Ringler, the Palo Alto, California, an attorney who signed the Monday letter, told the AP he was not at liberty to comment.
For years, fake social media accounts have been a source of concern. Advertisers base their spending decisions on the number of users offered by social media networks. Spam bots are also used to propagate misinformation and amplify messages.
Twitter and its investors are fully aware of the issue of phony accounts. For years, the business has revealed its bot projections to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, while also warning that its estimate may be too low.
Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal has stated that the company has consistently calculated that less than 5% of its accounts are spam. Musk, however, has questioned that percentage, claiming in a May tweet "without evidence" that 20% or more of Twitter's accounts are fake.
