The Twitter deal hangs as Musk presses for proof of bot count on the platform, Twitter’s legal team accuses Musk of breaking an NDA, and Intel shareholders reject the company’s proposal for top executives.
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That’s all the tech news that’s trending right now, welcome to Hashtag Trending. It’s Wednesday, May 18th, and I’m your host, Samira Balsara.
Elon Musk has reiterated that he will not continue to pursue Twitter if the social media platform can’t prove that fewer than 5 per cent of its users are bots. In a tweet, Musk highlighted that Twitter’s CEO has refused to show proof to assuage his worries. Within hours of the tweet, Twitter responded that it’s still committed to the deal, which stands at $44 billion. Twitter CEO had stated the 5 per cent figure and tried to address Musk’s concerns in a lengthy Tweet on Monday, which elicited a poo emoji from Musk. If Musk does end up walking away, then he’d have to pay a $1 billion “break up” fee, or negotiate a lower rate for the shares.
In the same vein, amid the tension between Musk and Twitter, Musk now also says that Twitter’s legal team has accused him of violating a non disclosure agreement. The issue came from Musk revealing that Twitter has only sampled 100 users to derive that fewer than five per cent of Twitter users are bots. The Tesla CEO then pressed for proof after saying that he’s yet to see any analysis that supports Twitter’s claims. He questioned the platform’s transparency for advertisers as it would dilute the efficacy of advertising campaigns on the platform.
Intel shareholders voted against the company’s proposed compensation for its top executives. According to a regulatory filing published on Monday, the company’s shareholders are still anticipating when the company will rebound from ceding market share to its rivals like TSMC and AMD. CNBC reports that 34 per cent of shareholders voted in favour of the compensation package. At the centre of the company is still Intel’s new CEO Pat Gelsinger, who’s equity is partially entangled with the company’s stock performance over five years. Intel said in January that the payout for these awards is 0 per cent as the stock is trading lower than when Gelsinger onboarded.
Spotify is testing a way for music artists to display their non-fungible token collections. The feature is currently being tested with a small group of artists, including Steve Aoki and The Wombats. A Spotify spokesperson confirmed the rumour to Music Ally, but didn’t say whether it will be implemented. The spokesperson only broadly explained that test features may be released as a part of a larger project, or only be used for learning purposes. It also appears that only a select group of users can see the NFTs as it did not appear on the writer’s Spotify app in Canada.
That’s all the tech news that’s trending right now. Hashtag Trending is a part of the ITWC Podcast network. Add us to your Alexa Flash briefings or your Google Home daily briefing. Make sure to sign up for our Daily IT Wire newsletter to get all the news that matters directly in your inbox every day. Also, catch the next episode of Hashtag Tendances, our weekly Hashtag Trending episode in French, which drops every Thursday morning. If you have a suggestion or a tip, drop us a line in the comments or via email. Thank you for listening, I’m Samira Balsara.
