Elon Musk calls on SEC to evaluate Twitter user numbers

Technology

Elon Musk, during an event at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California, U.S., on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2019.
Bloomberg /Getty

In the midst of his deal to acquire Twitter, Elon Musk has called on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to look into the social network’s user numbers.

Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, wrote in an informal Twitter poll on Tuesday, “Twitter claims that >95% of daily active users are real, unique humans. Does anyone have that experience?” He then said, in response to a follower, who suggested the SEC begin an investigation, “Hello @SECGov, anyone home?”

The SEC has been aware of Twitter’s murky metrics for years.

Musk agreed to buy Twitter last month for $44 billion, but has since said the deal is on pause as he looks into bots, spam and fakes. Twitter has said it still expects the transaction to go through at the agreed upon price of $54.20 a share.

Investors have been dumping the shares on concerns that Musk is going to abandon his agreement, which would force him to pay a $1 billion breakup fee. Twitter’s stock has given up all its gains since Musk first disclosed his 9% stake in the company early last month.

Shares of Twitter were up 2.5% on Tuesday to $38.33, below the $39.31 closing price on April 1, the last trading session before Musk revealed his minority ownership.

WATCH: Elon Musk doesn’t seem to have evidence for his bot claims

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