Twitter to Hand Over Internal Data to Elon Musk Over Fake Accounts, Spam

Social media platform Twitter is preparing to hand over internal data regarding fake accounts and spam to Tesla CEO Elon Musk after he threatened to walk away from the Twitter buyout deal if refused.

The Guardian reported that Musk will have access to more than 500 million tweets posted daily while a number of companies already pay for access to the data.

It includes a real-time record of tweets, the devices users tweet from, and information about the accounts of the tweet.

In addition, Twitter would let Musk review its "firehose" of daily traffic in response to legal threats that the deal would be in jeopardy otherwise.

Musk earlier warned that he might walk away from the $44 billion Twitter buyout deal if it fails to provide the data on the span and fake accounts he asks for.

Musk's lawyers said that declining to present the information was a "material breach" of the deal agreement, which would allow the Tesla CEO to walk away from the deal without paying the $1 billion break fee written into the deal.

Twitter Internal Data on Fake Accounts

A source familiar with the matter told the Washington Post that the internal data could be provided as soon as this week.

Some two dozen companies pay for access to the trove, which comprises real-time records of tweets, as well as information about the accounts that tweet.

The contract for the $44 billion deal noted that the Tesla CEO has to continue the purchase unless he can prove that Twitter had "deceived him" about the true value of the company, according to a Tech Crunch report.

U.K.-based GlobalData published a study that states at least 10 percent of Twitter users could be bots. The study analyzed about four million tweets from 20,976 unique handles.

Data scientist Sidharth Kumar said that incessant tweeting of non-original content can be considered spam, but some may choose to see it as a very active user sharing articles or opinions.

Twitter has consistently claimed that only around five percent of accounts are spam since filing to go public in 2013.

Elon Musk Twitter Buyout Deal

Elon Musk's lawyers said their client must have a complete and accurate understanding of the very core of Twitter's business model, including its active user base.

Twitter spokesman Scott Bisang said that Twitter has and will continue to cooperatively share information with Musk to consummate the transaction in compliance with the terms of the merger agreement.

Musk believes that at least 20 percent of Twitter users are spam or fake accounts. He noted that his team would do its own random sampling to calculate the total percentage.

Fox Business reported that Musk threatened to walk away from the deal after accusing the company of breaching its obligations under the merger agreement.

Musk pledged a total of $33.5 billion in equity to help finance the transaction.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: Elon Musk repeats request for Twitter user data in new filing - from CNBC Television