Elon Musk finally explains ‘poop emoji’ tweet cited in Twitter lawsuit
Elon Musk finally explained his infamous “poop emoji” response to a lengthy discussion of spam bots by Twitter’s CEO — and it was nearly as succinct as the original, scatological tweet.
Musk had tweeted the emoji on May 16 in response to a lengthy thread by Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal – who defended the company’s assertion that fake accounts comprised less than 5% of the overall user pool.
In a new tweet Thursday, Musk addressed Twitter’s citation of the exchange in its lawsuit demanding that Musk follow through on his $44 billion takeover of the company – noting that his use of the off-color emoji signaled his view that Agrawal’s claims “= bs.”
Twitter’s legal team had presented the tweet and others as evidence that Musk had “violated his obligations” under the original merger deal in which he agreed to buy the social media company.
“Since signing the merger agreement, Musk has repeatedly disparaged Twitter and the deal, creating business risk for Twitter and downward pressure on its share price,” Twitter’s attorneys argue in the complaint filed on Tuesday.
Twitter also accused Musk of repeated violations of a confidentiality agreement included in the merger deal.
Musk backed out of the deal last week, citing concerns about spam accounts within its user base. His camp argued in a filing that Twitter had failed to comply with repeated requests for information needed to verify the number.
While the legal battle in Delaware chancery court is still in its early stages, Twitter is widely viewed to have a strong argument in its bid to force the deal to proceed. The merger agreement with Musk also included a $1 billion breakup fee that the billionaire might be forced to pay.
Earlier this week, noted short-seller Hindenburg Research revealed it had taken a long position on Twitter. The firm described the lawsuit as a “credible threat to Musk’s empire.”
CNBC’s David Faber took it a step further, arguing in a segment that Musk could eventually face jail time for backing out of the agreement.
