"The civil trial in San Francisco centers on a class-action lawsuit filed just before Musk took control of Twitter, which he later renamed X, in October 2022, six months after agreeing to buy the embattled company for $44 billion, or $54.20 per share. The price represents a sliver of the Tesla CEO's fortune, now estimated at $839 billion."
"Much of the trial focused on Musk's claims about the number of bots on Twitter. Musk testified, as he long contended, that Twitter had a much higher number of fake and spam accounts than the 5% it disclosed in regulatory filings. He used what he called Twitter's misrepresentation of the number of fake accounts on its service as a reason to retreat from the purchase."
"The company had paid $809.5 million in 2021 to settle claims it was overstating its growth rate and monthly user figures. Twitter also disclosed its bot estimates to the Securities and Exchange Commission for years while also cautioning that its estimate might be too low."
A civil trial in San Francisco involves shareholders suing Elon Musk for allegedly engaging in deceptive practices while attempting to exit his $44 billion agreement to purchase Twitter in 2022. The lawsuit centers on Musk's claims about the prevalence of fake and spam accounts on the platform. Musk contended Twitter had significantly more bots than the 5% disclosed in regulatory filings, citing this as justification for backing out. Twitter subsequently sued to enforce the deal, but Musk ultimately agreed to complete the purchase at the original price. Twitter had previously settled similar claims in 2021 for $809.5 million regarding user figure misstatements. Testimony revealed disagreement over bot percentages, with Musk claiming at least 20% while Twitter's former CFO estimated closer to 1%.
Read at Fast Company
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