Elon Musk has threatened to pull out of a $44 billion deal for Twitter because the company has refused to give him information about his fake accounts.
So Twitter now plans to give Mr. Musk access to much of his data, possibly right up to the very last tweet.
The social media company has agreed to give Mr. Musk direct access to its “firehose,” the stream of billions of tweets flowing through the company’s network daily, according to a person with knowledge of the decision. Whether Mr. Musk will have full or partial access to that “fire hose” is unclear.
The information would give Mr. Musk the tools to discern how many accounts on the Twitter platform could be fake. But it probably won’t help him come to the conclusion that Twitter’s 5 percent of its active accounts are fake, as the company uses a different method using proprietary data and human analysis to arrive at that figure. Mr Musk has said he does not believe that only 5 percent of active Twitter accounts are fake.
Twitter’s move could make it harder for Mr Musk to end the deal. On Monday, his lawyers sent a letter to the company, accusing the company of hindering its efforts to obtain information essential to the closing of the deal. For weeks, Mr. Musk has also been tweeting increasingly tantalizing comments about Twitter’s fake accounts, which appear to be laying the groundwork for either renegotiating or getting out of the deal.
Mr. Musk agreed to buy Twitter in April for $54.20 per share. If the deal falls apart, there will be a $1 billion rescission fee. But the deal includes a “specific performance clause,” which gives Twitter the right to sue him and force him to close or pay the deal, as long as the debt financing he has amassed remains intact.
A Twitter spokesperson declined to comment on giving Mr. Musk access to the stream of tweets, but referred to a previous statement.
“Twitter has and will cooperate in sharing information with Mr. Musk to complete the transaction in accordance with the terms of the merger agreement,” Twitter said. “We believe that this agreement is in the best interest of all shareholders. We intend to complete the transaction and enforce the merger agreement at the agreed price and terms.”
Mr. Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Washington Post previously reported that Mr. Musk gained access to the Twitter fire hose.
A company often shares confidential data with its acquirer as part of a transaction and the parameters surrounding data sharing are negotiated before signing an agreement. But Mr Musk waived due diligence when he agreed to buy the social media company and Twitter began sharing confidential information with him last month.
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One of Twitter’s concerns about information sharing has been Mr. Musk’s previous statements, both publicly and to the company, that he was considering starting a rival social media service, The New York Times reported. Typically, such matters are addressed by restricting who has access to such information.
Mr Musk has said he will ensure that anyone viewing confidential data from Twitter is bound by a nondisclosure agreement. He has also said he would not keep or share sensitive information on Twitter if the deal fails.
Twitter has calculated that 5 percent of its “daily active monetized users” are fake. In April, the company reported that it had 229 million daily active users to monetize.
Once Mr. Musk gains access to the Twitter stream of tweets, he will likely need a team of experts to analyze the data, as well as the computing power to process and store the vast amount of information, company insiders said.
