Blow for Elon Musk as US judge scorns demand for Twitter user data

Elon Musk has suffered a setback in his legal battle with Twitter after his demands for user data were dismissed by a judge as absurdly widespread.

Chancellor Kathleen McCormick in a Delaware courtroom said no one in her right mind had attempted to do so.

Musk wants access to the data that Twitter uses to determine the proportion of fake accounts that exist on the platform. Musk walked away from his $44 billion Twitter takeover offer after accusing the company of underestimating the number of fake accounts.

Musk’s argument gained strength this week when the US securities regulator wrote to the firm’s CEO Parag Agarwal requesting details on its methodology for anticipating fake accounts.

Twitter has confirmed its view that these accounts represent less than 5% of total users. In a letter to the regulator in June, the company said that Twitter believes it is already calculating these figures. The methodology used has been adequately disclosed.

It comes a day after a former Twitter executive accused the company of endangering personal and national security with its information management policies. Peter Muzz Zatko, who was Twitter’s chief of security until leaving in January, alleged that The firm does not delete users’ data after deactivating the accounts.

As for documents obtained by CNN, Agarwal described the allegations as a false narrative that is full of inconsistencies and inaccuracies and presented without significant context.

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