London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Jul 23, 2025

Elon Musk calls on SEC to investigate Twitter's spam, fake account estimate

Elon Musk calls on SEC to investigate Twitter's spam, fake account estimate

Musk has estimated that fake and spam accounts make up at least 20% of Twitter's users

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has suggested that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission should investigate whether Twitter's internal estimate that spam and fake accounts make up less than 5% of users on the social media platform is accurate.


The call to action comes after Musk issued a poll to his more than 97 million Twitter followers asking whether they believe that more than 95% of Twitter users are real.

Representatives for the SEC and Twitter declined to comment.

In April, Twitter accepted Musk's $44 billion offer to acquire and take it private at $54.20 per share. However, the deal is temporarily on hold pending details supporting Twitter's calculations on spam and fake accounts.


Musk estimated during the All In tech conference in Miami on Monday that fake and spam accounts make up at least 20% of Twitter's users. He later tweeted that the figure "could be *much* higher."

"My offer was based on Twitter's SEC filings being accurate," he added. "Twitter's CEO publicly refused to show proof of <5%. This deal cannot move forward until he does."


In the first quarter of 2022, Twitter's monetizable daily active user (mDAU) base grew 15.9% year over year to 229 million, including 39.6 million daily active users in the U.S. and 189.4 million international daily active users.

In a lengthy Twitter thread on Monday, Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal said it would be difficult to conduct an external review to determine the percentage of spam and fake accounts on the platform.

"Unfortunately, we don’t believe that this specific estimation can be performed externally, given the critical need to use both public and private information (which we can’t share)," Agrawal explained. "Externally, it’s not even possible to know which accounts are counted as mDAUs on any given day."


Agrawal reiterated the less than 5% estimate, which he said is calculated based on "multiple human reviews (in replicate) of thousands of accounts, that are sampled at random, consistently over time" from accounts the company counts as mDAUs.

"Each human review is based on Twitter rules that define spam and platform manipulation, and uses both public and private data (eg, IP address, phone number, geolocation, client/browser signatures, what the account does when it’s active…) to make a determination on each account," he added.

Musk's deal is currently expected to close in 2022, subject to shareholder and regulatory approval and satisfaction of other customary closing conditions. However, Twitter shares are currently trading well below Musk's offer.

Under the terms of the deal, Musk would have to pay a $1 billion breakup fee and could be subjected to additional litigation for damages if he walks away. He emphasized during the All In conference that a deal for Twitter at a lower price would not be "out of the question."


In addition to vowing to crack down on spam bots, the self-described "free speech absolutist" has expressed interest in open sourcing Twitter's algorithm to improve transparency with the platform's users and said he would overturn former President Donald Trump's ban.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
US Treasury Secretary Calls for Institutional Review of Federal Reserve Amid AI‑Driven Growth Expectations
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Severe Flooding in South Korea Claims Lives Amid Ongoing Rescue Operations
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
Microsoft, US Lab to Use AI for Faster Nuclear Plant Licensing
Trump Walks Back Talk of Firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Irish Tech Worker Detained 100 days by US Authorities for Overstaying Visa
Dimon Warns on Fed Independence as Trump Administration Eyes Powell’s Succession
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Jeff Bezos Considers Purchasing Condé Nast as a Wedding Gift
Ghislaine Maxwell Says She’s Ready to Testify Before Congress on Epstein’s Criminal Empire
Bal des Pompiers: A Celebration of Community and Firefighter Culture in France
FBI Chief Kash Patel Denies Resignation Speculations Amid Epstein List Controversy
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Google Secures Windsurf AI Coding Team in $2.4 Billion Licence Deal
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
South African Police Minister Suspended Amid Organised Crime Allegations
Nvidia CEO Claims Chinese Military Reluctance to Use US AI Technology
Hong Kong Advances Digital Asset Strategy to Address Economic Challenges
Australia Rules Out Pre‑commitment of Troops, Reinforces Defence Posture Amid US‑China Tensions
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
U.S. Resumes Deportations to Third Countries After Supreme Court Ruling
Excavation Begins at Site of Mass Grave for Children at Former Irish Institution
×