According to various news sources, Twitter aims to give Elon Musk access to its firehose of raw data on hundreds of millions of daily tweets to move forward with the Tesla billionaire's $44 billion takeover of the social media site.

Citing a person familiar with the situation, the Washington Post was the first to expose Twitter's plan to give Musk complete access to the firehose. However, according to some reports, the millionaire may only have partial access.

Musk, who signed a legally binding agreement to purchase Twitter in April, believes the deal cannot go through unless the firm discloses more information on the frequency of bogus accounts on its network. He has claimed, without providing proof, that Twitter has vastly underestimated the number of spam bots – artificial accounts that generally push frauds and misinformation on its platform.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced an inquiry into Twitter on Monday for allegedly failing to reveal the scope of its spam bot and phoney accounts, stating his office will investigate into suspected fraudulent reporting of bots on Twitter.

Also read: Elon Musk Claims Twitter'S Lack Of Information On Bots Violates Merger Deal

The reported offer from Twitter might undercut Musk's attempts to use the spam bot issue to throw doubt on the deal's viability. This week, Musk's attorneys accused Twitter of refusing to provide information regarding the exact number of bot accounts on the platform.

For years, fake social media accounts have been a source of concern. Advertisers base their spending decisions on the number of users offered by social media networks. Spam bots are also used to propagate misinformation and amplify messages.

Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal has earlier claimed that Twitter has fewer than 5 percent of its accounts are spam which was immediately refuted by Musk claiming that 20 percent or more of Twitter's accounts are bogus.

Meanwhile, Twitter Inc anticipates a shareholder vote on its $44 billion sale to Elon Musk could come by early August, its top executives told employees on Wednesday.

Also read: Twitter Shareholders Sue Elon Musk, Say He 'Deflated' Stock Price

Musk's lawyers had warned a day earlier that he might walk away from the acquisition if the company fails to provide the data he seeks on spam and fake accounts.

Twitter's top lawyer Vijaya Gadde told an employee meeting that the company anticipates it could hold a shareholder vote on the Musk deal in late July or early August.

First Published:Jun 9, 2022 1:48 PM IST