Elon Musk Says Him Buying Twitter at a Lower Price Is Possible

A viable Twitter deal is “not out of the question” at a lower price, Elon Musk said at the 2022 All-In Summit Monday, as he’s continued to express skepticism about the company’s estimate of spam and fake accounts.

State of play: Musk recently put his deal to buy Twitter “temporarily on hold” as he seeks out more information about spam and fake accounts.

Driving the news: In a series of tweets Monday, Twitter’s chief executive Parag Agrawal defended the company’s estimate of “well under 5%” fake accounts and bots and laid out how it arrived at the figure.

• Musk replied to Agrawal’s tweet and responded with the poop emoji.

Musk went further at the All-In Summit, saying without providing evidence that it “seems beyond unreasonable” that Twitter’s number of human accounts is at over 95%.

• “Does anyone have that experience?” Musk asked.
• Musk said that there is probably four to five times the number of bots compared to what Twitter said. The lowest estimate, he said, is that Twitter is 20% full of bots.
• Per Bloomberg, Musk said that a viable deal for Twitter at a lower price is not “out of the question.” 

Our thought bubble, via Axios’ Scott Rosenberg: Every Twitter user’s experience varies based on who you follow and who follows you. Musk is a highly atypical user with a massive public profile, 90 million followers, and deep ties to the crypto world, where bots run rampant.

• No doubt he encounters tons of bots all the time! Most of us don’t, and have little reason to question the company’s calculations.

Editor’s note: This story has been corrected to show Musk replied to Agrawal’s tweet, he did not quote-tweet it.

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