Elon Musk threatens to sue Microsoft

Elon Musk has threatened to sue Microsoft.

The Twitter CEO has accused the software giant of using user data from his social media giant without authorisation.

The 51-year-old billionaire tweeted: “They trained illegally using Twitter data. Lawsuit time.”

They trained illegally using Twitter data. Lawsuit time.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 19, 2023

The message came as a reaction to Microsoft proposing to take Twitter from its business advertising platform and no further information was given by the Tesla boss.

When approached for comment by BBC News, the Bill Gates-founded company decline to respond.

However, previously they announced that its ad service would “no longer support Twitter” from April 25.

This will lead to ad purchasers being unable to use their Twitter accounts via their social management tool.

Microsoft continued: “Other social media channels such as Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn will continue to be available.”

In another post, Elon – whose $44 billion Twitter takeover was finalised late last year – admitted he was “open to ideas”.

He added: “But ripping off the Twitter database, demonetising it (removing ads) and then selling our data to others isn’t a winning solution.”

In February, the microblogging site began selling data of “hundreds of millions” of users to third parties, which allows them to “manage and track every aspect of your social media presence”.

Since his purchase went through, Elon has faced mass criticism for his management of the site, which has included drastic cost-cutting measures for the struggling website, like slashing the workforce by more than half and charging for verification.

Last week, the SpaceX founder detailed in a rare interview to the BBC that when he seized the reins there were months of life left in the tank, but since then “almost all advertisers have come back or said they are going to come back”.

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