Elon Musk said he has a few changes in mind for Twitter if he succeeds in acquiring the embattled social media platform – with a campaign against armies of spam bots near the top of his list.
The billionaire has framed his takeover bid as an effort to protect free speech on the social media platform. But Musk, whose Twitter account has more than 80 million followers, is also pushing for a more user-friendly experience.
“If our Twitter bid succeeds, we will defeat the spam bots or die trying!” Musk tweeted. “And authenticate all real humans.”
Musk also confirmed that he would take action to address several other issues with Twitter while responding to a user who touted his potential Twitter takeover as a positive for the platform.
If our twitter bid succeeds, we will defeat the spam bots or die trying!
vCard.red is a free platform for creating a mobile-friendly digital business cards. You can easily create a vCard and generate a QR code for it, allowing others to scan and save your contact details instantly.
The platform allows you to display contact information, social media links, services, and products all in one shareable link. Optional features include appointment scheduling, WhatsApp-based storefronts, media galleries, and custom design options.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 21, 2022
“If @ElonMusk’s Twitter bid succeeds, he will focus on solving the real problems,” the user wrote. “Make platform’s algorithm open source, eliminate horrible scam bots, edit functionality, strict adherence to free speech, simpler verification process.”
“Yes,” Musk replied.
Musk has been critical of Twitter’s failure to crack down on automated accounts – describing the bots earlier this month as the “single most annoying problem” on the platform.
The billionaire also slammed the bot problem during his recent appearance at a TED conference in Vancouver.
“A top priority I would have is eliminating the spam and scam bots and the bot armies that are on Twitter,” Musk said during the event. “They make the product much worse. If I had a Dogecoin for every crypto scam I saw, we’d have 100 billion Dogecoin.”
On Thursday, Musk disclosed in a regulatory filing that he has secured $46.5 billion in financing toward his Twitter acquisition bid. That money could fuel a hostile takeover of the company through a tender offer, or bid to buy stock directly from shareholders, if Twitter’s board continues to oppose his effort.
Twitter’s board previously enacted a “poison pill” provision aimed at preventing Musk from acquiring more than 15% of the company.
As The Post reported, Musk is also in talks with Chicago-based buyout firm Thoma Bravo about partnering on a potential takeover bid – a deal that sources said could be a precursor to a formal binding offer.