Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk has threatened to rescind his buyout bid for Twitter, saying on Monday that the social media company was neglecting its duties to provide required data on fake accounts.
Latest filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, says Mr Musk has accused Twitter of committing “a clear material breach” of its “obligations under the merger agreement and Mr Musk reserves … his right not to consummate the transaction and his right to terminate the merger agreement.”
In the letter written to Twitter’s head of legal, policy and trust, Vijaya Gadde, Mr Musk claimed that Twitter is “actively resisting and thwarting his information rights” as outlined by the deal.
Last month, Mr Musk put the $44 billion buyout deal on hold after contending the social media platform’s numbers of false or spam accounts represented fewer than five per cent of its daily active users during the first quarter.
Mr Musk had previously noted that his priorities included removing “spam bots” from the platform, once describing cryptocurrency spam bots as the platform’s “single most annoying problem.”
Twitter had previously disclosed in filings to the regulatory body that Mr Musk had waived a due diligence clause in the deal that could have eased his withdrawal.
In light of this, Mr Musk could either pay a $1 billion breakup fee or would be prosecuted against by Twitter to enforce the terms of the merger agreement and compel him to buy the company.
