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Elon Musk (archive image)
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The takeover battle between Twitter and Elon Musk has been going back and forth for weeks.
Recently the sound had become sharper.
According to a media report, the company's board of directors now wants to comply with the tech billionaire's requests for information.
Twitter will soon provide Musk with detailed data that will provide information about the number of false accounts in the short message service.
The "Washington Post" reported on Wednesday with reference to informed circles.
Musk had made a $44 billion purchase offer for Twitter, but recently threatened to withdraw the offer.
Musk said on Monday that Twitter was in “a clear breach” of its “obligations under the merger agreement”.
The company "actively" resisted its requests for information about fake accounts on the online network.
He sees this as a clear violation of the obligations under his takeover bid.
From Twitter's point of view, however, Musk cannot unilaterally put the agreement on hold.
The entrepreneur makes the multi-billion takeover dependent on the number of spam or fake accounts in the short message service.
This involves so-called bots: computer programs that use algorithms to interact with users and pretend to be real people.
According to Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, less than 5 percent of accounts active on Twitter are bots.
However, the platform's methodology for capturing these fake accounts is not "reasonable," Musk said.
He had to do his "own analysis."
Some experts see Musk's probing questions about the bots as a way to prepare for his early exit from the Twitter deal - or to push the takeover price down.
Texas Attorney General Joins Musk
Musk was backed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who announced an investigation into Twitter's claims about the number of fake accounts.
The company is now asked to provide information on this within three weeks.
Republican Paxton has long been at odds with Twitter and other online platforms.
He accuses them of suppressing conservative views.
The boss of the electric car pioneer Tesla had previously agreed with Twitter to take over the company for $ 54.20 per share.
With prices of around 40 dollars per share, however, investors are currently very skeptical as to whether a corresponding transaction will actually take place.
jok/AFP