Elon Musk warns of dropping Twitter deal if THIS does not happen

Elon Musk says that he will make a deal with Twitter if the company doesn't give data on fake accounts.

New Delhi: Elon Musk warned he may walk away from his $44 billion deal to acquire Twitter Inc if the social media network fails to provide data on spam and fake accounts, the billionaire said in a letter to the company on Monday.

The letter said Twitter was in a "clear material breach" of its obligations and that Musk reserves all rights to terminate the merger agreement.Earlier in March, Musk said he would put the deal "temporarily on hold", while he waits for the social media company to provide data on the proportion of its fake accounts.

"Musk believes Twitter is transparently refusing to comply with its obligations under the merger agreement, which is causing further suspicion that the company is withholding the requested data due to concern for what Musk’s own analysis of that data will uncover," according to the letter.

"Musk believes the company is actively resisting and thwarting his information rights," the letter by Musk`s lawyers said.

A self proclaimed free-speech absolutist, Musk has questioned the accuracy of Twitter`s public filings about spam accounts representing less than 5% of its user base, claiming they must be at least 20%.

Musk said he needed the data to conduct his own analysis of Twitter users and did not believe in the company`s "lax testing methodologies."

"Musk is clearly entitled to the requested data to enable him to prepare for transitioning Twitter`s business to his ownership and to facilitate his transaction financing," his lawyers said in the letter.

Musk has said that he has lined up financing for the deal, through equity and loans, pulling in top shareholders including Saudi Arabian investor Prince Alwaleed bin Talal and Sequoia Capital.

Twitter shares were down 5.5% at $37.95 in premarket trading.