Elon Musk threatens to drop Twitter deal, accused company of hiding data: Report

Elon Musk has threatened to call off $44 billion acquisition of Twitter, accusing company of hiding data about fake user accounts, reports AP.

Musk’s legal team claims in a letter that Twitter has failed to provide him with information on the service’s spam bot problem and that he’s entitled to receive that information under the deal agreement, according to a report in The Verge.

“Musk believes the company is actively resisting and thwarting his information rights (and the company’s corresponding obligations) under the merger agreement,” the lawyers write, the report said.

The letter said Twitter was in a "clear material breach" of its obligations and that Musk reserves all rights to terminate the merger agreement

The letter says Musk could choose “not to consummate the transaction” because of the alleged breach of contract.

Earlier in March, Musk said he would put the deal "temporarily on hold", while he waits for the social media company to provide data on the proportion of its fake accounts.

"Musk believes Twitter is transparently refusing to comply with its obligations under the merger agreement, which is causing further suspicion that the company is withholding the requested data due to concern for what Musk’s own analysis of that data will uncover," Reuters said, citing the letter.

Twitter shares were down 5.5% at $37.95 in premarket trading.

(With inputs from Reuters)