Elon Musk's lawyers say Twitter is hiding the identities of key staff who calculate bot numbers, the main sticking point in the $44 billion deal, reports say

• Elon Musk's lawyers want to question Twitter employees about bots, reports say.
• Musk's legal team is accusing Twitter of hiding employees who count bot and spam accounts.

Elon Musk's lawyers want to question the Twitter employees responsible for counting and evaluating the number of bots on the social media platform, both Bloomberg and Reuters reported.

Musk's legal team is accusing the social media company of hiding key witnesses and is asking a Delaware judge to force Twitter to identify them, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Musk's defense team wants the records of the employees who calculate the percentage of bots and spam accounts on the platform so they can then be questioned in court, per Bloomberg and Reuters.

The request was made in a letter to Delaware Chancery Court Judge Kathaleen St. J. McCormick, filed under seal on Tuesday, Bloomberg reported.

Representatives for both Musk and Twitter did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment on the reports.

The number of bots and spam accounts on the platform has been a sticking point for Musk throughout the deal. After months of back and forth, Musk's issues with spam accounts eventually led him to publicly pull out of the $44 billion deal.

Last month, Musk accused Twitter of withholding information about the number of bots on the platform, later citing it as the reason for withdrawing his bid.

Musk's lawyers claimed in a termination letter that his analysis indicated the percentage of false accounts on Twitter was "wildly higher than 5%" — the number Twitter disclosed in its financial reports.

Last Saturday, however, Musk suggested in a tweet that the deal could be back on if Twitter reveals more bot data.

"If Twitter simply provides their method of sampling 100 accounts and how they're confirmed to be real, the deal should proceed on original terms," he said.

The legal battle is due to begin in October in the Delaware Court of Chancery. It is set to last for five days.

Legal experts previously told Insider the billionaire was facing a considerable legal fight and a possible $1 billion breakup fee.

Twitter previously said that the deal has already cost it $33 million, with costs expected to skyrocket once it reaches court.