Estimated at $44 billion

Elon Musk links the Twitter deal to the health of user accounts

Elon Musk.

Photography: Patrick Castillo

American billionaire Elon Musk said his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter could go ahead if the company revealed how it took a sample of 100 accounts, and how to prove that they are real accounts.

"If the company's disclosures to the SEC turn out to be genuinely false, it shouldn't," Musk wrote on Twitter yesterday.

In response to a Twitter user's question, whether the US Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating "questionable allegations" of the company, Musk tweeted: "Good question, why aren't they doing this?"

Twitter declined to comment on the tweet when contacted by Reuters.

On Thursday, Twitter rejected Musk's allegations that he had been tricked into signing a deal to buy the social networking company.

She said these allegations were "unbelievable and contrary to the truth".

And Twitter explained in a disclosure issued on Thursday: “According to Musk, he - the billionaire founder of many companies and advises him many bankers and lawyers on Wall Street - was deceived by (Twitter) into signing a merger agreement worth 44 billion dollars .. This is the story Unbelievable and untrue as it appears.

Musk filed a counterclaim on Twitter on July 29 in an escalation of his legal battle against the social media company over his attempt to withdraw from the deal.