Elon Musk responded with emojis after Twitter’s chief executive insisted that the social media platform was doing everything possible to remove spam and bot accounts.
Just days after the Tesla boss said the problem had forced him to delay the site’s $ 44 billion acquisition, Twitter CEO Parag Agraval defended his company’s work with spam and bots and denied allegations that Twitter was not doing enough. to clear accounts automatically.
He tweeted Monday that spam “harms the experience of real people on Twitter” and that the company is “strongly encouraged to detect and remove as much spam as possible every day.”
“Anyone who suggests otherwise is simply wrong,” Agraval tweeted.
Musk didn’t seem impressed, tweeting emojis in response. He then commented: “So how do advertisers know what they get for their money? This is essential for Twitter’s financial health. “
Last week, Musk said there was “some chance” that the actual number of fake Twitter accounts “could be over 90% of daily active users.”
Agraval said spam and bot account operators are becoming more complex – making it difficult for Twitter to identify and eliminate them.
However, Agrawal claims that less than 5% of all “monetized daily active users” on Twitter – or mDAU – are spam.
Agraval declined to say how the company obtained the data, although he said: “A week ago we shared an overview of the evaluation process with Elon and we look forward to continuing our conversation with him and all of you.
Over the weekend, Musk tweeted that Twitter’s legal team accused him of violating a non-disclosure agreement, revealing that the sample size for checks on the social media platform for automated users was only 100 accounts.
Agraval defended the work of his company with bots and spam accounts, saying that Twitter is working hard to clear them from the site.AP
“Twitter has just legally called to complain that I violated their NDA by revealing that the sample size for a bot check is 100!” Tweeted Tesla’s CEO. “That actually happened.”
Shares of Twitter traded about 6.5% on Monday. Shares of Twitter sold on Wall Street for just over $ 38 a share – well below $ 54.20, which Musk offered to buy out the company’s stakeholders and make the company private.
Analysts such as Dan Ives of Wedbush believe that Musk’s take advantage of the bot problem is a pretext to get the company to agree to sell at a reduced price.
Musk has put $ 44 billion on Twitter’s acquisition on hold pending a review of Twitter’s bot and spam policies.REUTERS
Ives said several factors, including the changing stock market and funding problems, “made Musk cool” and that the closure of the “bots” was more of a scapegoat for lower prices. ”
The Twitter board knows that no one will come close to offering such a scope, and that Musk, whose electric car maker Tesla lost $ 300 billion in market capital since announcing the deal last month, is well aware.
“The elephant in the Twitter board room is that Musk could walk away for $ 1 billion as a small separation fee (for a relative of all Musk) and probably point to the bot / fake account problem as the reason, although it will probably will be challenged by Twitter in court, “according to Ives.
Shares of Twitter fell more than 6% on Monday.EPA
“If the revised deal is made by Musk and Twitter, it will probably be at a lower cost once negotiations begin and efforts are made on DAU issues and Twitter hotkey algorithms.
Twitter has been shaken since the company’s board of directors announced last month that it had accepted Musk’s offer of a $ 44 billion buyout.
Agrawal fired two top executives on Thursday after telling employees the company had failed to meet its growth and revenue goals.
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