Elon Musk vs Twitter: the weird number at the heart of the drama - The Verge

How do you count active users? Twitter uses something called mDAU, and Elon Musk argues it’s wrong. What will the judge ask Twitter to give Musk on mDAUs?

Listening to the lawyers representing Elon Musk and Twitter argue over which documents need to be provided as part of legal discovery today, I began to wonder if it is possible to measure anything at all.

The arguments centered on a wonky count of user numbers: mDAUs, or “monetizable daily active users.” It’s a nonstandard measure — most social media companies use daily or monthly active users — that focuses on which users can see ads. But Twitter is a nonstandard social media company!

Twitter is suing Musk for abandoning a deal to buy the company for $44 billion. Part of Musk’s argument is that he was misled about the amount of spam and bots on the platform and that, therefore, the deal can’t be done. In today’s hearing, Musk’s lawyers claimed Twitter was cherry-picking documents the lawyers had requested on mDAUs. Alex Spiro, Musk’s counsel, told the court that Musk wants to check all Twitter accounts.

“We don’t just have to take their word for it,” Spiro said to the court. “We are allowed to question their process.” Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick, who is overseeing the case in Delaware’s Chancery Court, said she would take the matter under advisement before adjourning the hearing.

I don’t know if mDAU is actually a good metric. But this hearing suggests that revelations from a Twitter whistleblower will shape Musk’s case, at least in terms of guiding Musk’s discovery.

https://www.theverge.com/2022/8/24/23320461/twitter-mdau-mudge-zatko-elon-musk-discovery

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