Twitter uses Elon Musk poop emoji as evidence in lawsuit against him
Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal had been explaining how the company roots out bot accounts
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In another bizarre episode of the ongoing saga between Twitter and Elon Musk, the social media platform, in its lawsuit against the Tesla CEO for backing out of the $44 billion acquisition, used the infamous poop emoji as evidence he had disparaged the company.
Musk used the emoji in response to a May 16 tweet from Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal’s statement about bot accounts.
Elon Musk and Parag Agrawal. (Reuters | Twitter / Reuters Photos)
Agrawal had been discussing the method that Twitter uses to detect its bot accounts – the core reason Musk’s legal team gave for walking away from the deal.
In a Twitter thread, Agrawal said rooting out bot accounts was in the company’s and well as users’ best interest.
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"As such, we are strongly incentivized to detect and remove as much spam as we possibly can, every single day," the statement began. "Anyone who suggests otherwise is just wrong."
He added: "We suspend over half a million spam accounts every day, usually before any of you even see them on Twitter. We also lock millions of accounts each week that we suspect may be spam – if they can’t pass human verification challenges (captchas, phone verification, etc.)
In response to the drawn-out thread, Musk replied with a single, smiling poop emoji. In a separate Tweet, he wrote: "So how do advertisers know what they’re getting for their money? This is fundamental to the financial health of Twitter."
The tweet was one of several that Twitter used as evidence to prove he had repeatedly disparaged the 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," a complaint reads.
Twitter has sued Musk in an attempt to force him to complete his $44 billion takeover of the social media company by accusing him of "outlandish" and "bad faith" actions that have caused the platform irreparable harm and "wreaked havoc" on its stock price.
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Legal experts say Twitter has a strong case, but the coming court battle is still likely to be long, contentious and the outcome, uncertain. The court could force Musk to complete the acquisition or the two sides could settle in the end. Other, less likely outcomes are also on the table in this tumultuous saga.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.