Twitter deal temporarily on hold, says Elon Musk

Billionaire Elon Musk has said that the deal to acquire Twitter is temporarily on hold. Musk had put forth an offer of USD 44 billion for the acquisition of the social media platform.

"Twitter deal temporarily on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of users," tweeted Musk on Friday (May 13).

Musk's offer to buy Twitter had sent shockwaves through the tech and business world. There were concerns that under Musk, Twitter would assume 'right-of-centre' political leaning. Musk himself is known for his off-the-cuff tweeting. He has recently said that he would consider restoring former US president Donald Trump's suspended Twitter account.

Donald Trump's Twitter account was suspended after January 6, 2021 Capitol Hill riots caused by his supporters.

Reuters reported that Twitter didn't immediately respond to the fresh announcement from Musk.

Earlier this month, Twitter had estimated that false or spam accounts represented fewer than 5% of its monetizable daily active users during the first quarter.

It also said it faced several risks until the deal with Musk is closed, including whether advertisers would continue to spend on Twitter.

Musk, the world's richest man and the chief executive of Tesla Inc, had said that one of his priorities would be to remove "spam bots" from the platform.

(With inputs from agencies)

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