Elon Musk has been told by Twitter’s legal team that he violated a non-disclosure agreement after he previously tweeted about how the company checks for bot accounts, he tweeted Saturday.
“Twitter legal just called to complain that I violated their NDA by revealing the bot check sample size is 100!” Musk tweeted, “This actually happened.”
Musk is in the process of finalizing his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter and is deliberating over public filings, including the number of bot users on the platform, which he has promised to remove once he is in control of the company.
Following an internal review, Twitter told Musk that bot accounts make up less than 5 percent of its users.
“Twitter deal temporarily on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of users,” Musk tweeted.
The minuscule figure is well below the expectation for anyone who regularly uses the platform including Musk, who followed up his tweet by sharing how Twitter reached the figure.
“To find out, my team will do a random sample of 100 followers of @twitter. I invite others to repeat the same process and see what they discover,” he tweeted, when someone on the platform requested Musk “elaborate a bit on the process.”
To find out, my team will do a random sample of 100 followers of @twitter.
I invite others to repeat the same process and see what they discover …
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 14, 2022
“Any sensible random sampling process is fine. If many people independently get similar results for % of fake/spam/duplicate accounts, that will be telling. I picked 100 as the sample size number because that is what Twitter uses to calculate <5% fake/spam/duplicate,” Musk responded.
Any sensible random sampling process is fine. If many people independently get similar results for % of fake/spam/duplicate accounts, that will be telling.
I picked 100 as the sample size number, because that is what Twitter uses to calculate <5% fake/spam/duplicate.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 14, 2022
The following day, Musk shared the alleged NDA violation.
I relied upon the accuracy of Twitter’s public filings
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 14, 2022
Musk is often critical of the platform and once told users they were being “manipulated” by its algorithm in ways they “don’t realize.”
Amid the controversy, the Tesla CEO said he still is “still committed” to purchasing Twitter.
Still committed to acquisition
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 13, 2022
