Musk now wants to question Twitter employees who count bots
What's the story
Elon Musk has upped his attack against Twitter. The billionaire's legal team is now demanding Twitter to provide names of those employees who calculate the percentage of bots/spam accounts on the microblogging site. Twitter sued Musk last month after the Tesla owner unilaterally terminated the $44 billion deal to acquire the social media platform over disagreements on bot calculations.
Context
Why does this story matter?
The Musk-Twitter saga has been full of twists and turns since its inception. With just over two months left for the monumental trial, both parties are trying their best to create a favorable narrative. The deal is quintessential for Twitter's forward march and they have tried to portray the bot/spam problem as a non-issue. We can expect them to challenge Musk's legal team's request.
Request
Defence team wants to question Twitter employees over bot count
Through a letter filed on August 9, Musk's lawyer urged the judge of the Delaware Court of Chancery to compel Twitter to hand over the names of employees who calculate bot/spam account percentage. The defense team intends to question them, presumably to understand their process of the calculation of bots. It is unclear whether the judge has allowed the request or not.
Trial
The lawsuit is in the discovery phase
The Musk-Twitter trial is set to start on October 17 in Delaware. Both parties are in the discovery or evidence-gathering phase of the lawsuit now. They have issued subpoenas to advisers and banks as they seek evidence to support their claims. The process also involves agreeing on custodians or people with control over relevant information.
Story till now
Bot/spam issue has no connection to agreement: Twitter
Let's take a quick recap of the infamous saga. In April, Musk agreed to buy Twitter for $44 billion. Sooner than later, the deal hit the bot/spam roadblock. The billionaire then terminated the agreement citing "misleading" statements about the issue. Twitter sued Musk to complete the deal, saying that the issue has no bearing on the agreement.
Musk's view
Musk believes Twitter has more bots than it says
Musk has repeatedly said that Twitter has more fake/spam accounts than what the company says. The billionaire even conducted a poll on Twitter asking his followers to give their opinion on the issue. An overwhelming majority (64.9%) agreed with Musk's opinion that more than 5% of Twitter daily users are fake/spam. About the result, he later tweeted, "Twitter has spoken..."
Financing
Musk sold Tesla shares to finance a forced Twitter acquisition
Musk recently sold $6.9 billion worth of shares in Tesla. About the sale, he said, "in the (hopefully unlikely) event that Twitter forces this deal to close and some equity partners don't come through, it is important to avoid an emergency sale of Tesla stock." He later vouched to buy the shares back if the Twitter deal does not go through.