Elon Musk raised the issue as grounds to back out of a deal to buy Twitter.
DETROIT — U.S. securities regulators are questioning Twitter about the way it determines how many fake accounts are on its platform.
The SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance asked the questions in a June 15 letter, shortly before Tesla CEO Elon Musk raised the issue as grounds to back out of a deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion. Musk has claimed that Twitter is undercounting the number of fake accounts, which inflates the number of real users.
The law firm Wilson Sonsini of Palo Alto, California, replied to the SEC in a June 22 letter saying the company believes it adequately disclosed the methodology in its annual report filed for 2021. The letter was disclosed in a filing posted by the SEC on Wednesday, a day after Twitter’s former head of security alleged that the company misled regulators about its poor cybersecurity defenses and its negligence in attempting to root out fake accounts that spread disinformation.
As lawmakers stepped up calls for investigations into Zatko’s allegations, the Senate Judiciary Committee announced Wednesday that Zatko will testify at a hearing on Sept. 13 — the same day Twitter’s shareholders are scheduled to vote on the company’s pending buyout by Musk. The Twitter board is recommending approval of the buyout.
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