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Musk announced in May that the deal was on hold over questions of whether spam and fake accounts made up less than 5 percent of the platform's users.

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The mogul promised at the time of the sale announcement to bring the online town square to what he called its full potential, while protecting free speech and improving the user experience by reducing the number of automated, spam or fake accounts on the social media platform. The lawsuit argues that Musk is using his concern about the number of fake accounts on Twitter as an excuse to back out of the deal after it became less financially desirable for him. The lawsuit states that 'Musk refuses to honor his obligations to Twitter and its stockholders because the deal he signed no longer serves his personal interests.' Musk entered into a binding agreement with Twitter to purchase the company in April 2022 for a price of $54.20 per share, a premium over the company's previous stock price. This illustration photo taken on July 8, 2022, shows Elon Musk's Twitter page displayed on the screen of a smartphone with Twitter logos in the background in Los Angeles. Twitter is taking Elon Musk to court after he pulled out of the $44 billion deal to purchase the social media platform. 'Having mounted a public spectacle to put Twitter in play, and having proposed and then signed a seller-friendly merger agreement, Musk apparently believes that he - unlike every other party subject to Delaware contract law - is free to change his mind, trash the company, disrupt its operations, destroy stockholder value, and walk away,' reads the lawsuit. The legal action is a striking reversal after Musk, the world's richest man, moved aggressively to take control of Twitter before signaling he wanted out of the deal over concerns of what he said is a high number of fake or spam accounts on the platform. Twitter's sharply worded lawsuit filed Tuesday in the Delaware Court of Chancery seeks an order compelling Musk to follow through with his highly publicized bid to purchase the company. Twitter is taking Elon Musk to court over his attempt to back out of the $44 billion deal to buy the social media platform, accusing the tech mogul of recklessly damaging the company's value in order to protect his own financial interests.

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