Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) is under investigation in Texas to determine whether it is under-reporting the number of bot accounts on the social media platform.
Texas attorney general Ken Paxton has kicked off the enquiry which will seek to determine whether Twitter has violated the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act by playing down the number of fake accounts on the platform.
Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) who is conducting a takeover bid for Twitter that is showing all of the sense of direction of a wayward shopping trolley, has previously cast doubt on Twitter’s estimated number of bot accounts.
Musk has said his bid is on hold until he gets what he claims are more accurate numbers on the percentage of accounts on Twitter that are operated by “bots” rather than humans. Musk has indicated he would bin the bid unless he could ascertain whether bots make up less than 5% of the total number of Twitter accounts.
Yesterday, Musk’s legal team accused Twitter of “actively resisting and thwarting his information rights (and the company’s corresponding obligations) under the merger agreement.”
The investigation by the attorney general of Texas should, therefore, please Musk greatly.
“If Twitter is misrepresenting how many accounts are fake to drive up their revenue, I have a duty to protect Texans,” Paxton said in a press release.
Twitter has until 27 June to respond to Paxton's civil investigative demand.