Elon Musk announced Friday that his plan to buy Twitter for $44 billion is “temporarily on hold” pending details about spam and fake accounts on the social media platform.
“Twitter deal temporarily on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of users,” he said including a link to a Reuters article about the issue.
“Still committed to acquisition,” he replied to his original tweet.
Twitter shares reportedly plunged more than 10% during Friday’s trading session after Musk’s announcement.
His offer was accepted in late April and Musk said one of his top priorities was to remove “spam bots” from the platform.
Earlier this month, Twitter estimated that false or spam accounts represented less than 5% of its “monetizable daily active users” during the first quarter, reported Reuters.
Donald Trump commented on Musk’s attempt to buy the company, saying “There is no way Elon Musk is going to buy Twitter at such a ridiculous price, especially since realizing it is a company largely based on BOTS or Spam Accounts”.
“Just my opinion, but Truth Social is MUCH better than Twitter and is absolutely exploding, incredible engagement!” he concluded.
Musk’s potential takeover has worried some with the changes he wants to make, while others have celebrated his bid with hope.