Twitter shares fell on Monday, July 11, after Elon Musk announced he was ending a $44 billion (£36 billion) offer to buy the social media platform. Musk backed out after complaining that Twitter had not given enough information about the number of spam and fake accounts that were available on the network. The businessman had asked for documentation to back up the company’s claim that less than 5 percent of its users are spam and bot accounts. The share price of Twitter was approximately $32.64 as of the close of trade on Monday; this is a further decline from the takeover price of $54.20 per share decided upon by Musk and Twitter’s board in April. Twitter wants the billionaire to close the deal rather than accept the $1 billion (£830 million) break-up fee required in the original merger agreement.

Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, first hinted at plans to buy Twitter in April. However, the deal was abandoned a month later due to worries over the growing number of false accounts on the site. When the original contract was signed, Musk said he wanted to make the website better by “defeating the spam bots, and authenticating all humans.” Twitter has long battled against “bots,” or automated accounts, that post false or malicious content. Additionally, Musk has argued for increased system freedom, which enables some tweets to be pushed and distributed to wider audiences on the website.