Musk testifies Twitter lied about number of bots
Elon Musk, now owner of X (formerly Twitter), told a San Francisco court that Twitter misrepresented how many bots were on its platform.
This came up during a lawsuit from shareholders, who say Musk's tweets in 2022 made Twitter's stock drop and let him rethink his $44 billion buyout deal.
Musk's bot claim
Under oath, Musk said Twitter's claim that only 5% of users were bots was false.
He argued the real number was much higher—even though he hadn't asked for details before skipping due diligence on the deal.
Impact on Twitter's stock
After Musk tweeted that the deal was "temporarily on hold" over bot concerns, Twitter shares fell hard—falling nearly 10% that day.
Meanwhile, past lawsuits show this isn't the first time questions about fake accounts and user growth have landed Twitter in hot water.