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When news broke Friday that Elon Musk was terminating his $44 billion deal to purchase Twitter, President Donald J. Trump took to his own social media platform to celebrate.
“THE TWITTER DEAL IS DEAD, LONG LIVE THE ‘TRUTH,’” Trump declared via Truth Social.
According to the Friday filing from Musk’s legal team, the Tesla CEO’s decision to end the deal was due to Twitter’s “false and misleading representations upon which Mr. Musk relied when entering into the Merger Agreement.”
In recent weeks, Musk had been candid about his concerns that the percentage of fake “bot accounts” on Twitter could be greater than the “less than 5 percent” the company claimed, putting the deal on hold while he investigated the matter.
Weighing in on the news via Twitter, Donald Trump Jr. wrote: “So basically Twitter has a huge amount of spam accounts —way more than they let on — and has gotten busted for it!!! As I said weeks ago spam accounts are probably 50% not 5% of Twitter users.”
Many conservatives had been hopeful that a Musk-owned Twitter would be more equitable in the enforcement of its Terms of Service. However, others, like President Trump, have been steadfast in their determination not to return to the social media site, which was the first to suspend the president following the Jan. 6 Capitol riots.
While Twitter has vowed legal action to hold Musk to his end of the agreement, the public’s reaction to the deal’s collapse was made clear Friday as, per the New York Post, shares of Twitter plunged six percent in extended trading.
As the legal dispute moves forward and more is revealed about Twitter’s alleged “false and misleading” claims, the question remains as to whether those still using the embattled social media site will stay or opt to join the growing crowd on the up-and-coming Truth Social.
