Olivia Cavallaro Tech 08.07.2022 22:Aug PM EDT

Elon Musk Challenges Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal to a Debate After Accusing Company of Fraud

The Tesla CEO continues on his assault on Twitter, now challenging its CEO to a debate over the platform's bot or spam users.

Multi-billionaire Elon Musk is not done challenging Twitter over its fake accounts and spam in the midst of his legal battle with the social media platform, which he was supposed to buy. On Saturday, the Tesla CEO called out Twitter's Parag Agrawal to a "public debate" over the platform's fake accounts and spam.

Musk, who had recently accused Twitter of fraud, took to the social media platform to challenge the company's CEO to a debate over just how many bots it has. He wrote in a tweet, "Let him prove to the public that Twitter has <5% fake or spam daily users," Engadget reported.

Musk spoke out about the possibility of a debate after he responded to a threat in support of his legal case against Twitter. The 51 year old businessman argued that if Twitter had just provided insights on how they sampled 100 accounts and how they confirmed its authenticity, "the deal should proceed on original terms."

However, Musk added, if Twitter's SEC filings are found to be "materially false," then the deal would be off. He then called out Agrawal to a debate and even asked his 108.2 million followers if they believe fake accounts make up less than 5% of Twitter's daily user base.

Participants in the poll had to choose between "Yes" and "Lmaooo no." Final results showed that 64.9% voted "no" and "35.1%" voted yes.

Musk Insists Twitter Bots Make Up At Least One-fifth of Daily Active Users

Musk previously argued that at least 20% of Twitter's daily active users are fake or spam accounts. Twitter disputed this claim, responding that the figure is actually less than 5%, Interesting Engineering reported. However, Musk said that he did not receive any proof that supported the 5% claim and that he refused to push through the acquisition until the statistic is proven to be true.

Previously, Twitter provided Musk access to a tool that would determine the number of fake accounts on the platform. However, the Tesla CEO claims that the tool prevented his team from completing an analysis because it had an artificial "cap" on the number of executable queries.

Twitter Will Not Participate in a Debate Pending the Trial

A source close to Twitter said that a debate between Musk and Agrawal cannot be done as long as the trial is pending, CNBC reported. An attorney for Twitter also declined to comment on Musk's challenge.

In court filings, Twitter's attorneys claim that Musk gave the company only 24 hours to accept his offer to purchase it before he would present it directly to shareholders of twitter. Musk also allegedly waived due diligence, including a chance to inquire about false or spam account son the platform.

Now, Twitter claims in court filings that Musk's "repeated mischaracterizations of the merger agreement cannot change its plain words." Despite his legal battles with Twitter, it appears that Musk is still interested in acquiring the company.

During Tesla's 2022 shareholders' meeting, Musk kept talking about Twitter, claiming that he "[understands] the product quite well" and that he knows "where to point the engineering team at Twitter to make it radically better." He also spoke of a "pretty grand vision" he had for the company.

Twitter and Musk are set to meet in a five-day trial in Delaware beginning October 17, which will be ruled by Chancellor Kathaleen St. J. McCormick.