How Elon Musk’s attempt to drag out the Twitter trial could backfire

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images

I'm about to do a close read while violating the principles of new criticism.

I woke up this morning and was annoyed, so I'm going to read this internet artifact and see if I can find anything new. You can hear them laughing.

"Anyone who uses Twitter is well aware that the comment threads are filled with scam, spam, & lot of fake accounts. It seems beyond reasonable for Twitter to claim that the number of real unique humans is above 95%. Does anyone have that experience?" — @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/XivtjhEBu3

— Pranay Pathole (@PPathole) August 6, 2022

There is a edited version of what Musk said.

…it’s extremely fundamental and anyone who uses Twitter is well aware that the comment threads are full of spam, scam, and just a lot of fake accounts. So it seems beyond reasonable for Twitter to claim that… the number of real unique humans that you see making comments on a daily basis on Twitter is above 95 percent… That is what they’re claiming. Does anyone have that experience? [laughter from the audience and from Musk] Exactly.

The video was cut from the All-In Summit in May. At the time of this recording, Musk had signed the agreement to acquire the micro-blogging site.

The next thing to do is to read the content. Musk says that anyone who uses the social networking site knows that the comment threads are full of fake accounts. It hits on something true, but it is something of an exaggeration. No one can say they didn't notice bots, spammers, and people pretending to be Musk. Musk has mentioned a lot of them.

Musk wants to know if anyone has the experience of interacting with real people 95 percent of the time. The intent was to elicit contempt for the idea that 95 percent of the accounts on the social networking site are people.

The longer video will show Musk being interviewed. Musk suggests that if you think you are interacting with people, there is a bridge he would like to sell you. I would like to know about the bridge. The lowest estimate of fake accounts is 20 percent, according to him. If there is a source, Musk doesn't cite it.

If I thought Musk could actually close the deal, I would support his claim that he has the most popular social media account of any human. How is this popular? He says that the daily active users on the platform are over 200 million. Why would it be that only a small portion of the user base is the most popular?

The camera cuts back to the in-person event and Peter is holding his forehead. I have never felt closer to him than I do today. Many people use reverse chronological feeds, so if you didn't use it, they wouldn't have seen it. They might not have thought it was very funny. A question like "Why am I not more popular" is not a good question to ask in public.

Musk is digging further. I have lightly edited this quote to make him sound like he's saying something. Something doesn't make sense here. It is not 5 or 7 or 8 percent, but is it 80 percent or 90 percent? There are some real people on the social networking site. It is an order of magnitude. Is it less than 5?

It makes the clip worse. Musk's lawyers have to argue that he was cheated by the social network in order to get out of his contract. He would have to have believed the representations that were made about its users and then be surprised to find out that. The video suggests that everyone knows that there is a lot of fake news on the social networking site. No one could have lied to him.

The debate over whether inauthentic accounts are material to the deal is over. We don't need to talk about it. Any sane person would know that there was a lot of bot and scam on the social networking site. Which is what made the clip go crazy. Will it be used by the lawyers? Who doesn't know? It is leverage.

Musk talks publicly a lot, which means that a huge team of sad junior lawyers are looking for any comments Musk makes that will hurt his case.

It may not mean a dramatic courtroom moment. Public drama of subpoenas obscures a possible private drama. If the real goal is just getting a huge payoff, above and beyond the $1 billion the contract Musk signed requires, then this kind of leverage means the company can ask for more money to make itself whole. That seems to be a loss for the company. I would start negotiations for a nice, cool fifteen billion dollars for my troubles.

I don't know how I got that number. In April, Musk sold $8.4 billion of TSLA stock, but on April 28, he said he wouldn't sell any more. According to Musk, he only sold his stake in the company for theTwitter deal.

If the deal is forced to close, Musk wants to avoid an emergency sale ofTesla stock. Is it okay? This isn't helping. Musk screwed up the financing efforts that were supposed to be done, according to part of the suit. Even if Musk doesn't have enough money to close the deal himself, selling more shares in case some partners don't come through makes the allegations look more serious.

There are more legal wranglings for now. Musk wants to know the names of the employees. After Musk criticized the general counsel of the company, he was also harassed online. I think this request for names is a sign that Musk is not doing well.

I agree that Musk is flailing, but I don't think that's why he wants names This is a way of dragging the case out and punishing the company. The incentive here is for Musk to make the legal case as long and painful as possible so that the company is more willing to settle. Given the extensive public record of Musk's comments and likely extensive private record, there isn't likely to be any blinks.

More opportunities exist for Musk to shoot himself in the foot. The stock sale of the electric car maker. At one point, Musk said that the difference between being worth a lot of money and being worth basically zero is the company's ability to solve self- driving. If the deal isn't finalized, his sales are a problem for the company. It may be worth zero if it succeeds at self- driving. It makes Musk look like he is leaving.