The Tesla boss Elon Musk’s USD 44 billion bid to buy Twitter may have hit the rocks, with some legal experts claiming that the billionaire may be using the 'preponderance' of bots on the social media platform “as an excuse to abandon or renegotiate” his deal.

Bloomberg, which noted that the sale deal “has looked better and better for Twitter” in recent weeks, with share prices tumbling, quoted Andrew Freedman, a partner and activist investment specialist at the legal firm Olshan Frome Wolosky, as stating:

“He’s jockeying here. He’s trying to create a paper trail. The unfortunate thing for Musk is that termination provisions under merger agreements don’t allow for buyer’s remorse.”

However, the same media outlet quoted two sources who it claimed it could not name as they “weren’t authorized to speak publicly” as stating that “behind the scenes,” Musk’s deal to buy Twitter is “proceeding,” with “both sides” still “meeting regularly and sharing information.”

Publicly, however, the story is very different. AP reported that Musk’s legal team had submitted a letter that accused Twitter of only providing details about Twitter’s testing methods. Musk had instead asked to see data on bots on the platform and had previously claimed that up to 20% of accounts may be automated. Twitter leadership has claimed the figure is no higher than 5%.

Musk has previously called cryptoasset-related bots the “single most annoying problem on Twitter.”

Musk’s lawyers wrote that Twitter’s refusal to comply was “tantamount to refusing” Musk’s “data requests,” and represented a “material breach” of the deal agreement. This, they argued, gives Musk the right to walk away from the deal.

They wrote:

“This is a clear material breach of Twitter’s obligations