Twitter says Elon Musk’s own data scientists did not back up bots claims
Enlarge (credit: Thomas Trutschel/Getty Images)
Twitter has said Elon Musk's own data scientists did not support his claim that the number of fake accounts on the social media platform is wildly higher" than the company's estimates, as the parties prepare to go to trial in October.
The Tesla chief executive is attempting to pull out of a $44 billion deal to buy Twitter, arguing that it misled regulators and investors about the true number of fake and spam accounts on the platform, which he alleges far outstrips the 5 percent figure that Twitter has cited for years.
During a three-hour hearing in a Delaware court on Tuesday, Twitter's lawyers said documents they had received during discovery showed that two different consultants hired by Musk, Cyabra and CounterAction, had produced estimates of the amount of spam on Twitter of 11 percent and 5 percent, respectively-figures broadly in line with Twitter's public estimates.