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Published 18:43 IST, April 22nd 2022

Elon Musk vows to 'defeat spam bots or die trying' if Twitter bid becomes successful

Elon Musk has waged a war against spam bots on Twitter and has vowed to eliminate them or 'die trying' if his bid to buy the firm is successful.

Reported by: Harsh Vardhan
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Elon Musk
Image: AP | Image: self

Tech mogul Elon Musk has waged a war against spam bots on Twitter and has vowed to eliminate them or 'die trying' if his bid to purchase the social media major becomes successful. In a series of tweets, the Tesla boss stated that he would also authenticate all 'real' users on the micro-blogging platform. "If our twitter bid succeeds, we will defeat the spam bots or die trying! And authenticate all real humans", Musk wrote in his one of his tweets. 

For the unversed, spam bots on Twitter are basically automated accounts which are controlled by a software and are programmed to replicate activity of real Twitter users. These activities include liking, commenting and retweeting which can be to provoke users to visit a link or just increase the count of followers. Previously, several reports have revealed that many users have been tricked into making financial transactions by such bots. In some cases, these spam bots are also used by cybercriminals for inciting and bullying users.

In a recent interview at TED Vancouver, Musk had addressed the same problem and revealed the instances when he came across several bots that were inciting users for investing in cryptocurrency. Calling the elimination of bot armies his 'top priority', Musk had said that if one crypto scam spotted by him on Twitter gave him one Dogecoin, he would have 100 billion Dogecoin by now.

Musk secures $46.5 billion in funding to purchase Twitter

Musk claims to have secured $46.5 billion in funding to purchase Twitter and is in the process of negotiating a deal with the firm. Musk made an offer to buy the social networking company for $54.20 per share, or $43 billion, last week. However, he did not explain how he planned to fund the purchase at the time, according to The Associated Press (AP). 

According to a new SEC filing, Morgan Stanley would lend over $20 billion in various loans to Musk. Meanwhile, a total of $21 billion will be raised through stock financing, Forbes reported. Meanwhile, Musk said that he has not heard from Twitter yet regarding the buyout. 

Updated 18:43 IST, April 22nd 2022