Twitter says Musk’s spam analysis used tool that called his own account a bot

According to a 127-page filing in the Delaware Court of Chancery, Musk's claims are "contradicted by the evidence and common sense." Musk's analysis relied on a tool that used to be called a likely bot, according to the court filing.

According to Musk, he was tricked into signing a $44 billion merger agreement by Wall Street bankers and lawyers. The story is implausible and not true. It's just that story, an attempt to escape a merger agreement that Musk no longer found attractive when the stock market was doing well.

No redactions were made by the social networking site.

Musk's Counter claims are based on distortion, misrepresentation, and deception. The merger agreement was signed by Musk.

Twitter: Musk used tool that labeled his account a bot

Musk defended his attempt to break the merger agreement by questioning whether less than 5 percent of its users are fake. According to the court filing, Musk's analysis used a publicly available website to find that at least 10 percent of Twitter's users are fake.

The only way to get a higher estimate is by running a data set that is neither limited to nor inclusive of mDAU. The result is a distortion that Musk hopes will make a difference.

Earlier this year, Musk was designated as highly likely to be a bot by an internet application called the 'Botometer'.

The Observatory on Social Media and the Network Science Institute at Indiana University collaborated on the project. The court filing said that the Botometer indicated that Musk's own account was probably a bot.

Musk’s Botometer score now more “human-like”

According to Botometer, Musk is more like a human than a bot. According to Protocol's article in May, Musk's account was getting wildly different Botometer scores from one day to the next.

If it were easy to do with software, there wouldn't be any bots, according to the Botometer's own FAQ website.

There are other problems with Musk's reliance on the Botometer.

The Botometer thus does not even purport to apply Twitter's definition of a false or spam account. In fact, some bots (like those that report earthquakes as they happen or updates on the weather) are often helpful and permissible under Twitter’s platform manipulation and spam policy, to which Twitter respectfully refers the Court. Moreover, Defendants have not indicated what score they are applying to conclude an account constitutes spam; thus, their allegation is unverifiable.

Musk's request to delay the trial was rejected by the Court of Chancery Judge. The trial is going to start on October 17.