Arab Press

بالشعب و للشعب
Sunday, Jul 06, 2025

With deal in doubt, Elon Musk and Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal debate bots on Twitter

With deal in doubt, Elon Musk and Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal debate bots on Twitter

Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal and Elon Musk are engaged in a debate over an issue Musk has made central to his proposed purchase of the platform — spam.

In a series of tweets on Monday, Agrawal laid out Twitter's approach to spam accounts and its challenges dealing with them.

Twitter (TWTR) suspends "over half a million spam accounts every day," Agrawal wrote. He reiterated a longstanding statistic from Twitter that less than 5% of its daily active users are spam accounts — a stat that Musk cited on Friday while announcing that his $44 billion deal to buy Twitter was "temporarily on hold."

Agrawal said that estimate is based on "multiple human reviews ... of thousands of accounts" sampled at random, but knowing externally which accounts are counted on any given day is not possible. Twitter has previously acknowledged that while it believes its estimates to be "reasonable," the measurements were not independently verified and the actual number of fake or spam accounts could be higher.

Agrawal's initial 13 tweets were met with a reply from Musk that was reflective of the unusual and extremely online nature of the deal: a poop emoji.

Musk followed up with a somewhat more thoughtful question. "So how do advertisers know what they're getting for their money?" Musk asked "This is fundamental to the financial health of Twitter," he added.

Musk has repeatedly spoken out against bots and spam accounts on Twitter, once describing cryptocurrency spam bots as the platform's "single most annoying problem." Anyone familiar with the replies to Musk's tweets knows they are full of such scams, many of which attempt to leverage Musk's name.

But some analysts speculate that the world's richest man may be using the debate over bots to drive down the price at which he would have to buy Twitter, whether as a standard negotiating tactic or out of necessity.

Twitter's stock price has erased all its gains in the weeks since Musk disclosed his stake the company and is currently trading at $37.39 per share — well below Musk's offer price of $54.20 per share.

"The bot issue at the end of the day ... feels more to us like the "dog ate the homework" excuse to bail on the Twitter deal or talk down a lower price," Dan Ives and John Katsingris, analysts at Wedbush Securities, wrote in a note on Monday.

Musk appeared to add fuel to that speculation on Monday, reportedly saying that a deal to buy Twitter at a lower price wouldn't be "out of the question," while also throwing out his own estimate that at least 20% of all Twitter accounts are fake, according to Bloomberg. Musk didn't say how he came to this number and did not respond to a request for comment from CNN Business.

In his Twitter thread, Agrawal said most spam campaigns on Twitter use a combination of humans and automation, rather than being primarily led by bots. Parsing through legitimate and fake accounts can be complicated, he said.

"The hard challenge is that many accounts which look fake superficially — are actually real people," he said. "And some of the spam accounts which are actually the most dangerous — and cause the most harm to our users — can look totally legitimate on the surface."

Agrawal said Twitter had been in touch with Musk on the spam issue.

"We shared an overview of the estimation process with Elon a week ago and look forward to continuing the conversation with him, and all of you," he added.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Arab Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
AI Raises Alarms Over Long-Term Job Security
Russia Formally Recognizes Taliban Government in Afghanistan
Saudi Arabia Maintains Ties with Iran Despite Israel Conflict
Mediators Edge Closer to Israel-Hamas Ceasefire Agreement
Germany Seeks Taliban Deal to Deport Afghan Migrants
Emirates Airline Expands Market Share with New $20 Million Campaign
Robots Compete in Football Tournament in China Amid Injuries
China Unveils Miniature Insect-Like Surveillance Drone
Marc Marquez Claims Victory at Dutch Grand Prix Amidst Family Misfortune
Iran Executes Alleged Israeli Spies and Arrests Hundreds Amid Post-War Crackdown
Trump Asserts Readiness for Further Strikes on Iran Amid Nuclear Tensions
Qatar Airways Clears Backlog of Passengers Following Missile Threats
Iran's Parliament Votes to Suspend Cooperation with Nuclear Watchdog
Trump Announces Upcoming US-Iran Meeting Amid Controversial Airstrikes
Trump Moves to Reshape Middle East Following Israel-Iran Conflict
NATO Leaders Endorse Plan for Increased Defence Spending
U.S. Crude Oil Prices Drop Below $65 Amid Market Volatility
“You Have 12 Hours to Flee”: Israeli Threat Campaign Targets Surviving Iranian Officials
Oman Set to Introduce Personal Income Tax, First in Gulf
Germany and Italy Under Pressure to Repatriate $245bn of Gold from US Vaults
Trump Praises Iran’s ‘Very Weak’ Response After U.S. Strikes and Presses Israel to Pursue Peace
WATCH: Israeli forces show the aftermath of a massive airstrike at Iran's Isfahan nuclear site
We have new information and breaking details to share about what is shaping up to be a historic air campaign tonight
Six Massive Bombs Dropped on Fordow; Trump: 'A Historic Moment for the U.S., Israel, and the World'
Fordow: Deeply Buried Iranian Enrichment Site in U.S.–Israel Crosshairs
United States Conducts Precision Strikes on Iran’s Nuclear Sites
US strikes Iran nuclear sites, Trump says
Pakistan to nominate Trump for Nobel Peace Prize.
Israel Confirms Assassination of Quds Force Commander in Tehran
16 Billion Login Credentials Leaked in Unprecedented Cybersecurity Breach
Senate hearing on who was 'really running' Biden White House kicks off
G7 Leaders Fail to Reach Consensus on Key Global Issues
Mass exodus in Tehran as millions try to flee following Trump’s evacuation order
Iranian Military Officers Reportedly Seek Contact with Reza Pahlavi, Signal Intent to Defect
China's Iranian Oil Imports Face Disruption Amid Escalating Middle East Tensions
Trump Demands Iran's Unconditional Surrender Amid Escalating Conflict
Israeli Airstrike Targets Iranian State TV in Central Tehran
President Trump is leaving the G7 summit early and has ordered the National Security Council to the Situation Room
Netanyahu Signals Potential Regime Change in Iran
Analysts Warn Iran May Resort to Unconventional Warfare
Iranian Regime Faces Existential Threat Amid Conflict
Energy Infrastructure Becomes War Zone in Middle East
Iran Conducts Ballistic Missile Launches Amid Heightened Tensions with Israel
Iran Signals Openness to Nuclear Negotiations Amid Ongoing Regional Tensions
Shock Within Iran’s Leadership: Khamenei’s Failed Plan to Launch 1,000 Missiles Against Israel
UK Deploys Jets to Middle East Amid Rising Tensions
Exiled Iranian Prince Reza Pahlavi Urges Overthrow of Khamenei Regime
Wreck of $17 Billion San José Galleon Identified Off Colombia After 300 Years
Iran Launches Extensive Missile Attack on Israel Following Israeli Strikes on Nuclear Sites
×