Elon Musk's Explanation For Why He Put His Twitter Deal On Hold Leaves People Very Skeptical

Twitter deal temporarily on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of usershttps://www.reuters.com/technology/twitter-estimates-spam-fake-accounts-represent-less-than-5-users-filing-2022-05-02/\u00a0\u2026

— Elon Musk (@Elon Musk) 1652435078

Twitter disclosed the % of its audience it believes is bots **FOR YEARS** and @elonmusk had the opportunity to 1) read those filings and 2) examine the numbers before he inked a deal to buy @Twitter (he decided not to do so). \u201cI relied upon Twitter\u201d is legalese and deflection.pic.twitter.com/1gvZl8Ddpm

— Tim O'Brien (@Tim O'Brien) 1652500275

The Twitter acquisition is on hold, according to Musk.\n\nPretext is it\u2019s about bots, but I think it\u2019s really because Tesla stock is plummeting. Investors clearly don\u2019t want two companies linked, and it\u2019s a cynical public stunt to stop Tesla\u2019s bleeding.https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/05/13/musk-twitter-bid/\u00a0\u2026

— Brianna Wu (@Brianna Wu) 1652441367

On hold? How does that work?

— Molly Jong-Fast (@Molly Jong-Fast) 1652439083

Elon Musk's concerned about Twitter bots and spam, like he believed 82 million people loved him for who he is.

— Paul Lander (@Paul Lander) 1652452794

Elon: I will buy Twitter to remove the bots\n\nalso Elon: Twitter deal temporarily on hold because of too many bots

— Fintwit (@Fintwit) 1652496666

Twitter in Chaos After the Elon Musk Who Offered to Buy It Turns Out To Be a Botpic.twitter.com/QKKUGQGxOj

— Jesus Chrysler (@Jesus Chrysler) 1652581418

Translation: Twitter deal on hold because Elon Musk never really wanted to buy it, and is now looking for reasons to avoid the $1 billion fine.

— Andrea Junker (@Andrea Junker) 1652435831

Elon needs a reason to back out.

— Send me cash (USPS Only) (@Send me cash (USPS Only)) 1652483816

He's not looking to solve the bot problem. He's looking for a way to save face and exit the twitter deal without paying the termination fee because Tesla stock has taken a dive and he can't come up with the money.

— M.D. Lafrance (@M.D. Lafrance) 1652575600

It looks like I was right all along. You never actually intended to buy #Twitter. You were bluffing the entire time. How many Twitter shares did you sell before tweeting this announcement?

— Peter Schiff (@Peter Schiff) 1652436826

I\u2019m calling BS on @elonmusk\u2019s late discovery that there might be a lot of bots and fake accounts on twitter. He\u2019s trying to renege on his $44 Billion offer.

— Geo Steve (@Geo Steve) 1652647100

I like you but no one is buying this whole "The deal might not go through bc Twitter has bots", man. C'mon.

— A.J. Delgado (@A.J. Delgado) 1652496490

Going to be a wild ride watching @elonmusk try to get out of paying the $1 billion he owes @Twitter for breaking up the deal to buy it.https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1525049369552048129\u00a0\u2026

— David Rothschild \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@David Rothschild \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1652530655