Elon Musk warned on Tuesday that the takeover of Twitter would not be completed until he had a guarantee that less than 5% of the accounts on the platform were fake. Elon Musk, who had announced on Friday the suspension of the acquisition process of the company, estimates that fake accounts represented at least 20% of Twitter users.


The unpredictable Elon Musk, indicated on Tuesday, May 17, that the acquisition of Twitter would not go through until he had a guarantee that less than 5% of accounts on the platform are fake.

“Twitter’s executive director yesterday refused to prove that less than 5% of accounts were fake,” tweeted Elon Musk, who has nearly 94 million followers on the social network. “Until he does, the deal can’t go forward,” he added.

The Tesla boss is referring to the explanations provided Monday by Parag Agrawal, the boss of Twitter, on the measures taken to fight against spam and fake accounts. The whimsical entrepreneur had responded with a poop emoji.

“The real number could be *much* higher”
Speaking via video at a conference on Monday, Elon Musk also estimated that fake accounts accounted for at least 20 percent of Twitter users, according to Bloomberg and tweets from people at the event.

Elon Musk had already announced last Friday to put on hold the acquisition of the company, which he wants to buy for $ 44 billion, before rectifying the situation a few hours later by stating that he was “still committed” to completing the operation.

“20% of fake accounts and spam is four times more than what Twitter says, but the real figure could be much higher,” he tweeted Tuesday.

For the moment Twitter does not react to the latest statements of the entrepreneur, however, the group’s share fell by 3.5% in electronic trading before the opening of Wall Street.