Elon Musk mocks efforts to ‘force’ him to buy Twitter

Elon Musk on Monday tweeted a meme mocking Twitter as it prepares to sue Musk for attempting to back out of a deal to buy the social media giant.

The meme shared by Musk includes four sequential images of the Tesla founder in increasingly hysterical laughter, each of which is accompanied by a caption that criticizes the social media platform for Musk’s complaints it did not provide accurate and comprehensive information on “fake or spam” accounts.

“They said I couldn’t buy Twitter, then they wouldn’t disclose bot info, now they want to force me to buy Twitter in court, now they have to disclose bot info in court,” the four captions read.

Twitter declined to comment on Musk’s tweet.

Musk’s deal to buy the social media platform was thrown into turmoil when he demanded more information on the prevalence of fake accounts on Twitter, arguing the details were fundamental to the business and needed to complete the agreement. 

Musk said the company refused to provide sufficient information and cited that, in part, as why he was backing out of the deal.

Twitter’s board has vowed to take Musk to court for backing out of the agreement.

The Tesla CEO had said he was seeking to buy the company in the name of protecting free speech, previewing that he would reverse Twitter’s ban of former President Trump and add features like an edit button.

Musk became Twitter’s largest shareholder in the spring, revealing in an April 4 regulatory filing that he had acquired a roughly 9 percent stake in the company, before making an offer to buy the company later that month at $54.20 a share.