Twitter dismissed Elon Musk’s claims in a Delaware court submission after the billionaire in his countersuit wrote that he was duped into signing a deal to buy the social media company, according to a Reuters report. The tech billionaire’s countersuit was filed under seal on July 29, 2022 and was made public on Thursday after redactions. 

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“According to Musk, he — the billionaire founder of multiple companies, advised by Wall Street bankers and lawyers — was hoodwinked by Twitter into signing a $44 billion merger agreement. That story is as implausible and contrary to fact as it sounds,” the filing released by Twitter on Thursday said.

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The microblogging site has stepped up its legal battle against the founder of SpaceX in an effort to force him to go through with the $44 billion deal that he had signed in April 2022. The legal fight is likely to build more animosity between the two entities, especially considering that just this past week, they could not agree on what disclosures would be made public. Twitter has accused Musk of purposely blowing up the deal because it no longer served his interests. 

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In his court filings, Musk has accused Twitter of concealing the real number of users it had on its platforms, claiming that the social media platform “knew that providing the Musk Parties the information they were requesting would reveal that Twitter had been swimming naked.” Twitter replied in their own filing, saying that Musk has not “not pleaded a shred of evidence for the rhetoric-heavy, fact-free” allegations.

Further, Musk claims that “Twitter’s misrepresentations run far deeper than simply providing incorrect numbers of false or spam accounts.” Musk’s team upon investigating found that the 238 million users that Twitter claims are “monetizable daily active users” are, according to his team, are “about 65 million lower than what Twitter represents.”

Earlier this year, Musk had expressed willingness to buy Twitter at 38% over the share price at the time. In April, Twitter share prices were worth $51.70 when Musk agreed to pay $54.20 for the company.

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On July 8, Musk pulled out of the $44 billion buyout while refusing to pay the $1 billion breakup fee. According to him, the social media company had failed to disclose adequate information regarding the bot and spam accounts on Twitter.

Four days later, on July 12, Twitter sued the founder of SpaceX. The company accused Musk of sabotaging the merger and their lawsuit was a demand for him to complete the deal.

The trial is set to take place from October 17 to October 21