Twitter vs Elon Musk: A Probable Breakthrough in Sight

Tesla owner Elon Musk is often in the news, due to things he might have done or not have done. Recently he was in the news owing to his ex-girlfriend, who put up unseen photos of the billionaire for auction. If Musk’s newsworthiness could be wagered on, using a bet365 account, punters would be having a field day making money off him.

People would remember that Elon Musk made an offer for Twitter, back in April 2022. Twitter accepted a whopping $44 billion to give a green signal to Musk’s acquisition deal. Obviously, the deal wasn’t without its own ups and downs. Twitter initially refused Musk’s proposal, because they wanted a shareholder with more stability.

Musk had been able to buy shares, and acquire a 9% stake in the company. He put forth his proposal to buy the test of the shares too, but the management team passed a bill to ensure that could not be brought to fruition. But ultimately, Twitter had to acquiesce, and accept Musk’s deal because no one else would offer them a deal like this.

Twitter had been suffering losses, and had recorded a $221 million loss in the financial year ended 2021. After the deal received a green signal from Twitter, Tesla suffered huge losses in the stocks market owing to risks associated with the deal. After going through so much to confirm the deal, you would expect them to finish it properly, right?

Unfortunately, you would be wrong. Just months after the fiasco, in July, Elon Musk announced to the world that he would be pulling out from the deal. The reason? Twitter had failed to provide him the correct data for fake and spam accounts on the social media app.

Twitter had informed Musk that less than 5% of Twitter users consisted of spam accounts, but on being asked to provide evidence to support the claims, Twitter had refused. Naturally, a legal battle ensued, with Twitter emphasising that they want Musk to keep his end of the deal, because the terms had been met from their side.

Now, in a further twist to this legal saga, Peiter Zatko has acted as a whistleblower against Twitter. Zatko was not only an head of security at Twitter, but is also a prominent network security expert, who had previously raised issues about the security of the internet, almost two decades ago. Zatko complained about the slipshod security practices adopted by Twitter, which meant they weren’t able to accurately estimate the number of spam accounts, or deal with internal threats. 

Of course, Twitter has slammed the claims, dismissing him as a resentful employee for having been fired for incompetency. But Zatko’s past records make him a very reliable person, and Musk’s legal team jumped at the opportunity. He has been subpoenaed to be a witness for Musk’s side.

It remains to be seen how this legal battle further unfolds. With so much happening in the mere span of a few months, more hurdles might be along the way.