SEC Takes Another Look At Twitter’s Claims About Bot Accounts

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is taking another look at Twitter’s claim that less than 5% of its users are spam accounts.

Parag Agrawal originally requested the CEO of company on June 15. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), made it public on Wednesday. 

“To the extent material, please disclose the methodology used in calculating these figures and the underlying judgments and assumptions used by management,” the SEC wrote.

Bloomberg News reported that the company claimed that it “already adequately discloses the methodology” it uses to determine the number of spam accounts on the platform:

“Twitter said that it randomly selects thousands of accounts to be reviewed by people each quarter and has done so for many years. Reviewers working for the firm use both public and private data to flag an account as fake or spam.”

Also, the SEC sent a July 27 notice to inform the company it had completed its investigation. 

“We remind you that the company and its management are responsible for the accuracy and adequacy of their disclosures, notwithstanding any review, comments, action or absence of action by the staff,” the agency warned. 

SEC requested Twitter’s explanation of a reporting problem related to daily average users in the quarter of 2019, 2021, and the quarter after. The agency wanted to know how the error was discovered as well as how the company determined it wasn’t a “material weakness” in its reporting. 

“Given that the error persisted for three years, please tell us how you concluded there was not a material weakness in your internal control over financial reporting and that your disclosure controls and procedures were effective as of March 31, 2022,” the SEC wrote.

Twitter wrote in a response letter on June 22 that the discrepancy was related to users switching between different accounts and that the overstatement “had no impact on Twitter’s financial statements.”

The company stated that the overstatement did not have any impact on Twitter’s other key metrics, such as mDAU. It also had no effect on Twitter’s financial statements. The overstatement in relation to mDAU was less than 1% for every quarter from the fourth quarterly of 2020 up through the fourth quarter 2021.

NewsBusters earlier this month reported that Tesla CEO Elon Musso had promised to sign a deal for the purchase of the platform at $44 billion, if it provided evidence that the reported figures were correct.

“If Twitter simply provides their method of sampling 100 accounts and how they’re confirmed to be real, the deal should proceed on original terms. However, if it turns out that their SEC filings are materially false, then it should not,” he tweeted.

Conservatives under attack Contact Twitter at 415-222-9670 and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment and provide clarity on “hate speech” and an equal footing for conservatives. We can help you censor yourself if necessary. Contact the Media Research CenterContact formPlease help us make Big Tech more accountable.

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