Elon Musk forcefully reiterated again that Twitter has a bot problem, and indicated he was prepared to walk away from his pending acquisition if Twitter does not do more to prove to him its users are real.

Experts think Musk may be using the bot issue to either walk away from the deal, or renegotiate better terms now that the fall in tech stocks makes his proposed deal considerably less economically beneficial.

In a security filing Monday, Musk stated that twitter has breached its agreement thus far by not meeting his demands to provide more information about fake accounts and spam on the platform. However people familiar with the deal indicate despite the turmoil indicated in the filing, the deal is proceeding apace behind the scenes, with both sides exchanging information and meeting regularly.

Andrew Freedman, a partner at the law firm Olshan Frome Wolosky LLP said, “He’s jockeying here — he’s trying to create a paper trail. The unfortunate thing for Musk is that termination provisions under merger agreements don’t allow for buyer’s remorse.”

Musk had announced last month he was putting the deal on hold until Twitter did more to prove that bots on the platform comprise fewer than 5% of users. He maintained that fake accounts and bots actually comprise at least 20% of user accounts.

For its part, twitter maintains that it has shared the necessary information with Musk. In addition, it has been reported that executives have told employees that Musk is unable to put the deal on hold, because he has signed a merger agreement.

Twitter has said in a statement that it, “has and will continue to cooperatively share information” with Musk, and will  “close the transaction and enforce the merger agreement at the agreed price and terms.” It is possible Twitter could try to sue Musk to hold him to the terms of the agreement if he tries to walk away.

Brian Quinn, an M&A professor at Boston College Law School said, “The board of Twitter is going to get tired of this and file a lawsuit in Delaware and say, ‘I want a declaratory judgment saying that I am not in violation of the agreement and that Musk has to complete the deal. That’ll be Twitter’s next step.”

Shares of Twitter declined 1.49% Monday, indicating investors are skeptical Musk’s deal will go through.

Musk and Twitter Chief Executive Officer Parag Agrawal have argued publicly on Twitter over the issue of bots.

Agrawal has said the company uses real people to review accounts to confirm the are not bots, but he did not  reveal any specifics, due to privacy concerns. He wrote, “Unfortunately, we don’t believe that this specific estimation can be performed externally, given the critical need to use both public and private information.”

In a letter to Twitter’s top lawyer, Vijaya Gadden, Musk’s lawyer wrote, “Twitter’s latest offer to simply provide additional details regarding the company’s own testing methodologies, whether through written materials or verbal explanations, is tantamount to refusing Mr. Musk’s data requests. Twitter’s effort to characterize it otherwise is merely an attempt to obfuscate and confuse the issue. Mr. Musk has made it clear that he does not believe the company’s lax testing methodologies are adequate so he must conduct his own analysis. The data he has requested is necessary to do so.”

Musk sees twitter’s withholding of information as a “clear material breach of Twitter’s obligations under the merger agreement and Mr. Musk reserves all rights resulting therefrom, including his right not to consummate the transaction and his right to terminate the merger agreement.” 

Jill Fisch, an expert on business and law at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School pointed out the filing was not necessary, and adding, “This is him using the SEC filing to reach the capital markets with this statement.”

One problem legal experts say Musk has is that he has demonstrated prior knowledge of Twitter’s bot issue by tweeting about it prior to undertaking his acquisition. Andrew Freedman said, “He obviously was aware of the bots issue — he was open about that as something he wanted to fix, as an area to create value. He would likely have to demonstrate that Twitter’s methodology is reckless or negligent” to force the company to release him or renegotiate the deal.

The proposed takeover agreement included a $1 billion breakup fee for either party, but it was written so Musk could not merely pay the fee and walk away. Under the agreement Musk must meet a specific performance provision, or Twitter could force him to consummate the deal.

Musk’s lawyer, Mike Ringler of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, said Musk cannot be held responsible if Twitter denies him the data he requires to secure debt financing to finish the deal.

However Quinn notes Musk has already acquired commitment letters from numerous financial institutions for debt financing.

Estimates of the number of bots by outside experts vary widely. Andrea Stroppa, a former data consultant for the World Economic Forum puts the number of bots at 10%. However the rate may rise for some topics, such as crypto currencies, and above 30% for certain conspiracies.

Ann M. Lipton, an associate professor in business law and entrepreneurship at Tulane University Law School in New Orleans said, “There’s a lot of money on the table, so he would have to have a lot of evidence to make it worth Twitter’s while to give up rather than fight for the original price,” adding it could be “an ugly court battle.”