Elon Musk Says His Twitter Bid was Contingent on SEC Filings Being Accurate and Can’t Move Forward

Elon Musk’s complicated $44 billion purchase of Twitter is on hold and “can’t move forward” until CEO Parag Agrawal discloses “proof” that fewer than 5% of Twitter’s accounts are fake, according to a tweet posted by Musk early Tuesday, casting even more doubt that the planned takeover will go through. Last week Musk said the deal was on hold because of the “fake account” issue—a frustrating, but nearly universal problem for social media companies.

Musk’s early morning tweet stated that the offer for Twitter was contingent on the SEC filings being accurate, and continued to explain that “20% fake/spam accounts, while 4 times what Twitter claims, could be *much* higher.” The tweet was threaded as a reply to an article from the website Teslarati stating that the billionaire believes 20% of the accounts are spam and citing analysts that claim Musk is presenting all the red flags of an investor who has soured on his own deal and wants out.

A few hours after Musk’s tweet, Twitter announced it had filed its preliminary proxy statement and stated that the company is “committed to completing the transaction on the agreed price and terms as promptly as practicable.”

20% fake/spam accounts, while 4 times what Twitter claims, could be *much* higher.

My offer was based on Twitter’s SEC filings being accurate.

Yesterday, Twitter’s CEO publicly refused to show proof of <5%.

This deal cannot move forward until he does.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 17, 2022