Explainer-What are these spam bots that Musk has vowed to defeat or die trying?

FILE PHOTO: The Twitter app is seen on a smartphone in this illustration taken July 13, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

(Reuters) - Billionaire Elon Musk on Friday put on hold his $44 billion-takeover plan for Twitter Inc, as he waited for details on the microblogging platform's claim that fake accounts comprise less than 5% of users.

Musk, who has made weeding out fake Twitter accounts and spam bots the central theme of his takeover plan, said if he buys the social-media platform he "will defeat the spam bots or die trying".