FILE PHOTO: An image of Elon Musk is seen on smartphone placed on printed Twitter logos in this picture illustration taken April 28, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration//File Photo

In the dispute over Tesla boss Elon Musk’s withdrawal from the multi-billion dollar Twitter takeover, the US social media giant insists on keeping the deal.

In a letter to Musk’s legal representative, Twitter’s lawyers said his termination of the deal was “invalid and unlawful” from the company’s perspective.

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“Twitter requires that Mr. Musk and the other Musk parties comply with their obligations under the Agreement, including their obligations to use their best efforts to consummate and effect the proposed transactions,” the letter reads is dated Sunday and was filed with regulators on Monday.

Contrary to Musk’s claims, Twitter did not violate the takeover agreement. Musk, on the other hand, knowingly and intentionally violated the agreement by terminating the Delas. The agreement remains in effect and the company will take steps to close the deal.

Musk said on Friday after the US stock market closed that he would scrap the $44 billion takeover. As justification, he referred to his previously unsubstantiated claims that Twitter had broken several points of the takeover agreement.

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Twitter is said to have significantly more fake accounts than the company’s estimate of less than five percent. Musk’s lawyers argued, among other things, that Twitter failed to fulfill its contractual obligation to provide Musk with the necessary data access to verify the numbers.

In a first reaction, the Twitter management had stated that they would appeal in order to go through with the takeover. Twitter has already announced that it will file a lawsuit at the company’s official headquarters in the US state of Delaware. There, the Delaware Chancery Court can also order the completion of a takeover.