Lyra Martin Tech 06.21.2022 19:Jun PM EDT

Bots are Twitter's Problem and Not China, Says Elon Musk

Elon Musk sees to acquire an exact measure of bots on Twitter.

If Twitter does not grant his request for bots disclosure, Elon Musk is presumed to turn down the deal.

Elon Musk does not see Twitter as having issues in China under his watch.

Elon Musk Emphasizes That Twitter's Bots Issues a Substantial Thing, Says it Must be Settled

Before he could complete his $44 billion take over of Twitter Inc., the Chief Executive Officer, Elon Musk, noted that the social media platform has several issues that it must patch up. These include acquiring a precise measure of bots the social media platform has and finalizing the funding for the deal.

In an interview with Bloomberg News, Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait at the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha, Musk said that the ratio of fake, spam and bot accounts on the said platform is a very significant matter. Banks have already committed to giving $13 billion of debt financing to Elon Musk's possession, and the lenders include Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Corp., and Barclays Plc.

Musk has repeatedly asked Twitter for fake account disclosures after cutting the deal. This fueled speculation that he might want to cut the deal's price or walk away. The SpaceX CEO's lawyer also said that Twitter must cooperate fully by giving the data Musk has requested so that he can guarantee the debt financing that is critical to polish the deal.

During the forum, the 50-year-old business magnate clarified that he has been pondering ways to improve Twitter's service. He then said that he would take responsibility for handling the social media platform as he does for Tesla Inc. and Space Exploration Technologies Corp., despite the fact that he is not necessarily planning to be its chief executive officer.

Musk also mentioned that he preferably likes to get around 80% of North America and perhaps half the world on Twitter in one form or another. To do so, he believes that for people to use it, the platform must become appealing to users; thus, it should not be a place where they might feel comfortable or harassed.

Musk Isn't Anticipating Twitter to Cause Issues in China, Under His Control

Although Twitter is banned in China, the country uses it to deliver messages overseas, sometimes through its spam bot armies. The Tesla CEO, also recognized as the world's richest person, does not anticipate his business operations in China inducing trouble if he takes authority over Twitter. He trusts China as a crucial production ground and a growing consumer market for his electric vehicles.

Musk has notedly put the takeover on hold while investigating the adequate number of actual users of Twitter. Subsequently, he filed a formal letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission, telling Twitter's executives that he might not continue the deal if they did not exert efforts to prove the measurement of its user base.

As a response, Twitter gave the businessman access to its firehose of public tweets, even though it's unclear if it is indeed helpful in calculating the number of bots. The social media company's shares were closed by 30% ($37.78) off the proposed appropriation price on Friday.

Elon Musk dropped his agenda to finance his purchase of Twitter partly with a margin loan tied to his Tesla stake and expanded the size of the sale's equity component. Regardless, despite Musk's agreement to buy Twitter without any financing conditions, the transaction's terms still require Twitter to give sensible affiliation with his request to help with the financing pact.