Twitter contradicts Musk's claims that he was deceived

Twitter Inc. asserted on Thursday that Elon Musk's claims in a Delaware court filing that he was deceived into signing the contract to purchase the social media company were "implausible and contrary to the facts."

Musk made the charges in a sealed countersuit he filed on Friday, which was unsealed on Thursday.

"Musk believes Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) deceived him into signing a $44 billion merger agreement. Musk is a successful entrepreneur who was advised by Wall Street bankers and attorneys. This story is as implausible and contrary to reality as it sounds "Thursday's filing by Twitter said the following.

The most recent salvo in an increasingly heated legal dispute between the world's richest person and the social media firm is Twitter's lawsuit.

Musk tried to withdraw his deal to acquire Twitter on October 17, citing a misrepresentation of the service's fake accounts.

The San Francisco-based company is seeking to compel Musk to finish the acquisition and accuses him of sabotaging it since it is no longer in his best interests to do so.

A representative for Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

During Thursday's public counterclaims, Musk accused Twitter of accelerating efforts to conceal the true number of its users, as the market declined.

The counterclaims allege, "As a long bull market ended and the tide receded, Twitter realized that providing the Musk Parties with the required information would reveal that Twitter had been swimming without clothing."

Musk has not provided a "single shred of evidence" to support his "fact-free" charges, according to Twitter's response.

"FACTLESS" ALLEGATIONS

Musk argues further that "Twitter's misrepresentations extend well beyond providing inaccurate statistics" on its spam or fake accounts.

According to Musk's counterclaims, while Twitter claims to have 238 million'monetizable daily active users,' the number of users who actually view adverts is around 65 million less.

Twitter contends that its statements to the SEC about monetizable daily active users were accurate.

Musk, the CEO of electric car company Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Inc, acquired Twitter in April for $54.20 per share, expressing his trust in Twitter's potential as a global forum for free expression.

As Twitter's stock price lagged behind his takeover offer, he began to suspect that less than 5 percent of Twitter users were bot and spam accounts.

Musk sought to terminate the agreement on July 8 without paying the $1 billion termination fee, citing Twitter's failure to disclose data on spam and bot accounts. Twitter filed suit against him four days later.

This week, Twitter sent hundreds of subpoenas to banks, investors, and law firms that supported Musk's buyout deal, while Musk summoned Twitter's Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) and JP Morgan advisors about their work.

Experts in the law assume that Twitter wants to determine why Musk turned against the company or if he broke his agreement to raise adequate capital.