Elon Musk says Twitter deal is "temporarily on hold" as he probes spam and fake accounts

Elon Musk said Friday that his planned $44 billion purchase of Twitter is "temporarily on hold" pending details on spam and fake accounts on the social media platform, another twist amid signs of internal turmoil over the proposed acquisition.In a tweet, the Tesla billionaire linked to a Reuters story from May 2 citing a financial filing from Twitter that estimated false or spam accounts made up fewer than 5% of the company's "monetizable daily active users" in the first quarter. Twitter CEO Parag Agarwal tweeted Friday afternoon that "While I expect the deal to close, we need to be prepared for all scenarios and always do what's right for Twitter."Calling Musk's tweet "bizarre," Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives said, "The implications of this tweet will send this Twitter circus show into a Friday the 13th horror show as now the Street will view this deal as 1) likely falling apart, 2) Musk negotiating for a lower deal price, or 3) Musk simply walking away from the deal with a $1 billion breakup fee."  Twitter disclosed its findings on bot and spam accounts in a filing for its first-quarter results.