Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk in a Friday tweet challenged Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal to a “public debate” about the platform’s claimed bot account percentage.
The electric vehicle mogul invited Agrawal to “prove to the public that Twitter has <5% fake or spam daily users” as the company claims in its SEC filings.
I hereby challenge @paraga to a public debate about the Twitter bot percentage.
Let him prove to the public that Twitter has <5% fake or spam daily users!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 6, 2022
Musk and Twitter have had a (public) falling out since the celebrity billionaire announced last month that he was “terminating” his $44 billion bid for the social media company.
Lawyers for the Tesla CEO cited a material breach of the merger agreement on Twitter’s part and misrepresentation of bot account numbers as the reasons behind the withdrawal. Musk has repeatedly and publicly accused Twitter of downplaying the number of spam/fake accounts the platform has.
In an accompanying poll on his Twitter account, Musk asked his 102 million followers if they think Twitter’s bot estimates are accurate. As of writing, 64.9% of respondents voted “Lmaooo no.” Musk followed up on the poll earlier today and said, “Twitter has spoken.”
Twitter has spoken …
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 7, 2022
Twitter has sued Musk in the Delaware Court of Chancery, seeking to legally force him to follow through on the acquisition. Musk last week filed a confidential countersuit against Twitter. The two parties are scheduled to meet in court for a five-day trial starting October 17.
With Musk challenging Twitter’s CEO to a public debate, though, could the two sides settle their dispute outside of court? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
