The dispute that divides the multibillionaire Elon Musk and Twitter finally, it is taking on a formal dimension, with the lawyers which progressively take the place of Internet shitposting. The evolution of the state of things is sanctioned by a letter deposited in the past few hours at the SEC, the American Securities and Exchange Commission, a letter in which Musk’s legal team asks the social network to satisfy all requests made.
Elon Musk’s lawyers attack Twitter
At the heart of the dispute are, unsurprisingly, the bogus accounts that populate the portal, as well as the reticence shown by Twitter in revealing any skeletons hidden in the company closet to Musk. Specifically, the lawyers accuse the social of not having developed adequate methodologies to ensure an accurate analysis of how many fake profiles actually are register for his service.
A severe but timely accusation. Although Big Tech denounces that “less than 5%” of the total subscribers are to be considered counterfeit, the research group SparkToro raises with the figure of 19.42%, a percentage that is also close to that advanced by Musk, who suggested that the bot-fake binomial exceeds 20%.
On the other hand, Twitter has officially boasted “less than 5%” of scam profiles for years and many observers have begun to question a number that seems too arbitrary and constant to be truly reliable. Such static is fraught with doubts, especially taking into account that small and large scandals have exploded in this regard which should have caused the monolithic figure to falter anyway.
The important thing is to do the math
Lawyers consider the counts reported by the tech firm to be unreliable, so they offer a solution to breaking the deadlock of a corporate takeover that is becoming a soap opera: the social network must provide Elon Musk with all the necessary data so that his own team can do the necessary calculations.
You want me to be carrying out malicious designs, you want me to care about preserving the functioning of their systems, Twitter is reluctant to provide such information to the billionairewho makes it known through his lawyers that he is ready to withdraw from the commercial operation, should he not be satisfied.
“This is a clear concrete violation of the obligations Twitter has to comply with under the merger agreement and Mr. Musk reserves the right to exercise the rights arising from the situation, including the right not to consume the transaction and your right to terminate the agreement of fusion », reads the letter.
Musk’s moves
Theoretically, the data provided to Musk in this situation should be protected by the bond of confidentiality, however the social network has every reason to worry: the eccentric rich man has never bothered to violate certain laws, so it would not be surprising if then some background. sensitive were published online in the form of meme teasing. At worst, Musk would face an irrelevant penalty for his huge bank account.
Not only that, the delivery of data it would not in itself guarantee the peaceful conclusion of the acquisition, rather. Being anything but super partes, Musk could not generate universally accepted results and these would probably be challenged in turn, which in turn would create extremely lengthy and tiring legislative situations.
According to what was suggested by the fluctuations on Wall Street, investors are convinced that Twitter is ready to resist and risk the nefarious consequences. The stock market value of the social media shares fell by 5.6% even before the markets opened the negotiations.
At the same time, resistance may not necessarily be the wrong choice. In the absence of guarantees from Elon Musk, Twitter has no choice but to protect him behind the scenes trusting that the counterparty cannot really withdraw from the signed contract. Sure, imposing the agreed takeover on the billionaire might take years of legal battles anyway, but perhaps it represents a better choice than submissively giving in and trusting in the correctness of a man who hasn’t proved extremely reliable in the past.
Source
Letter from Elon Musk’s lawyers