Amid a battle over Twitter's fake accounts, Elon Musk's $44 billion purchase of the social media platform is in serious jeopardy, sources told The Washington Post on Thursday.
Musk's team has reportedly stopped talking to those funding the deal because his team has concluded the amount of fake accounts on the platform were unable to be verified, sources told the Post.
Musk's team has doubted Twitter's claims that 5% of its user base are fake accounts or bots. Musk has sought more concrete information amid the purchase process, believing that number was a low estimate.
Now that Musk has determined the data on the Twitter spam accounts are not verifiable, one source told the Post, his team will take "potentially drastic action."
An announcement of the next move will come soon, the Post source added.
The Musk-Twitter deal is likely to end up in court litigation, particularly if Musk refuses to pay the $1 billion break-up provision in the offer.
Twitter argues Musk will be required to pay or complete the purchase for $44 billion if his reasoning is not based on the fundamentals of the Twitter business.
Neither Twitter nor Musk commented to the Post when asked about the latest information from the three sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the specifics of the transaction process.
Musk has accused Twitter of withholding information amid the transaction, putting the deal "on hold" in May.
"Twitter has not been cooperative," one source told the Post.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
© 2023 Newsmax. All rights reserved.