Musk Uses Poop Emoji Reply To Twitter Statement That External Bots Analysis Is Impossible

Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal on Monday worked to bolster confidence in the company’s estimate of how many automated accounts, or “bots,” exist on the platform after Elon Musk drew attention to the number, challenging Twitter’s analysis and saying he was putting his $44 billion takeover on hold because of it.

Musk, meanwhile, seems to be having none of Agrawal’s assurances.

Over the past year, the company has found that “well under” 5% of all Twitter profiles belong to such spam accounts, Agrawal said in a tweet. He also said any external analysis would be impossible “given the critical need to use both public and private information (which we can’t share),” he wrote. In response, Musk replied to one of Agrawal’s tweets with the poop emoji.

Musk shattered the drama surrounding Twitter’s buyout by indicating that his bid was on hold while he reviewed bot research. Musk’s Buyout of Twitter: Chaos in New York. He indicated that his bid for the company was on pause while he reviewed bot research. a tweet, he highlighted long-standing language from Twitter’s SEC filings that bots are less than 5% of users, seemingly a signal he didn’t believe the number’s accuracy. Musk later said he “still committed” to the acquisition, followed by Twitter chairman Bret Taylor saying the company “remained committed to our agreement,” too.

Musk’s true intentions for raising concerns about the bots remain an open question. It is possible that it was an effort to establish a pretext for renegotiating the Twitter purchase. Perhaps it’s a tactic to force Twitter into renegotiating the price of its sale amid an increase in tech stock prices? Or is Musk simply being himself—and just enjoying a chance to troll the internet? Perhaps a mixture of these three.

Twitter shareholders were further disturbed by Musk’s words. Twitter dropped 6.2% on Monday to $38.18 a share, far from Musk’s proposed $54.20 offer. The Nasdaq dropped 0.7% Monday. There’s been an unusually high gap between Twitter’s stock price and Musk’s proposal—there’s usually some separation between the two as a deal closes but not to this extent—and it continuing to widen shows how unsettled investors feel about Musk completing the deal. Nice going, Elon.