Tesla CEO Elon Musk had revealed his $44-billion (Kshs 5.1 trillion) deal to acquire social media app Twitter Inc has been put temporarily on hold, citing an analysis of the proportion of fake accounts on the application, that has been linked to the plunge in its share value.

"Twitter deal temporarily on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of users," Musk tweeted to his 92 million Twitter followers on Friday, May 13.

Musk later maintained that he was still committed to its acquisition, but has raised eyebrows following his unprecedented move which has been interpreted as Musk's effort to get the company to accept his "best and final offer".

Upon his announcement of the temporary hold, Twitter shares fell more than 20 percent but by his second tweet reaffirming his commitment to its acquisition, they regained some ground.

Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment. There was also no immediate reaction from the investors that Musk tapped last week to raise $7.1 billion (Sh824 billion) in funding, but sources familiar with the matter reveal that his commitment to its acquisition encouraged them, especially in the wake of the plunge in technology stocks that has stemmed from inflation and a potential economic slowdown.

Musk to further reiterate his reason for the hold,  tweeted a story by Reuters from ten days ago that cited the fake account figures, depicting that Twitter estimated that spam and fake accounts comprise less than 5% of its 229 million users. The social media company has stated that this was just an estimate and that the actual number may be higher.

Analysts are therefore questioning why the sudden move by Musk, as he was aware of the steady increase in the number of spam accounts that have been flagged since 2013, which is long before he made the offer on April 25.

"This five percent metric has been out for some time. He clearly would have already seen it... So it may well be more part of the strategy to lower the price," Susannah Streeter, an analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown noted.

Should he get cold feet and discontinue the deal, he is contractually obligated to pay Twitter $1 billion (Kshs116 billion) as a break-up fee. The contract has imposed a limit on the damages that the company can seek from the mogul to that level.

The contract, however, contains a "specific performance" clause that a judge can cite to force Musk to complete the deal.