Twitter reportedly set to make concession to Musk
US social media giant Twitter is reportedly going to finally meet would-be acquirer Elon Musk’s demands for more data, but it might not be quite what he has in mind.
We know this because the Washington Post has had one of its Deep Throats whispering in its ear again. This Twitter insider told the WaPo the social media company plans to comply with Musk’s demands for access to a massive trove of data referred to at a ‘firehose’. The move seems to be in direct response to Musk’s thinly-veiled threat at the start of this week to abandon the deal if he isn’t granted access to this data.
Musk doesn’t seem to have publicly responded to the scoop so it’s not yet clear that this is the data he requires. Since the firehose is apparently already available to anyone prepared to pay for it, you would have to assume he had something else in mind, especially since he’s not short of a bob or two. Many Twitter commentators share that scepticism.
Given Twitter usually talks about Monetizable Monthly Active Users (mMAU), I don’t see how access to the firehose actually answers that question since that’s just tweet streams not say people who they count as viewers of ads in Twitter apps. 🤷♂️
— Dare Obasanjo (@Carnage4Life) June 8, 2022
a lawyer 100% came up with this, same tactic as burying discovery in a mountain of irrelevant documents https://t.co/IDY91d49j5
— _dyIan 🦉 (@_dylanidk) June 9, 2022
I’m old enough to remember when literally everyone had access to the Twitter firehouse. It was useless for just about everyone except companies tracking what people were saying about them. Will tell Musk nothing about the active user base.
— Dave Lee (@DaveLeeFT) June 8, 2022
“So you like cigarettes, son? See how you like smoking this whole pack in one sitting.” https://t.co/oIBQRSMjP8
— Ethan Jacobs 🇺🇦 (@ethanjacobslaw) June 8, 2022
It’s hard to escape the feeling that Twitter and Musk are still playing games with each other. The Twitter board initially resisted Musk’s acquisition bid but now it seems keen to ensure he can’t wriggle out of it. This WaPo story feels like a trial balloon went up by Twitter to see how Musk responds to the firehose proposition. Since there’s no guarantee it will provide the level of user transparency Musk desires, expect some kind of oblique and snarky push-back from him via that very platform before long.
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Thanks Scott for the link to Wikipedia in your article! Also, I didn’t know that “WaPo” is shorthand for Washington Post. I thought it meant “beautiful” in Spanish…
Now my $0.02 about the topic of the article:
This move by Twitter could backfire because it means they would be tacitly recognizing that they do not measure, track or even care about bots. This would act in Musk’s favour should he wish to denounce the purchase.
Guapo – LOL