Twitter could lose its biggest investment ever if it challenges its new buyer

Elon Musk has threatened to walk away from his $44bn takeover of Twitter.

He is accusing the social media company of “thwarting” his requests to learn more about its user base.

Musk says was entitled to do his own measurement of spam accounts.

In a letter filed to regulators, the Tesla CEO formalises a dispute that has simmered for weeks after Musk declared the deal “on hold” pending further information.

This comes as Musk believes spam and fake accounts represent a far greater share than the less than 5 per cent of daily users that Twitter reports publicly.

Twitter says its numbers are right.

The dispute has raised more doubts about the future of the takeover, which Twitter’s board approved in April.