Elon Musk Wants His Freedom Back To Tweet Without Consulting Lawyers

Elon Musk has appealed a judge¡¯s refusal to end his 2018 agreement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission that required a Tesla lawyer to approve his Twitter posts.

Reuters

Also read: Elon Musk Says $44 Billion Deal To Purchase Twitter Is Temporarily On Hold

Reported first by Reuters, the court filing highlights that Musk will ask the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan to flip the April 27 decision by US District Judge Lewis Liman, which allowed his consent decree with the SEC to stand.

The decree was put into place to save Musk from an SEC lawsuit that accused Musk of defrauding investors by tweeting that he had secured funding to take his electric car company private on August 7, 2018, even though a buyout wasn¡¯t remotely close.

This resulted in both Musk and Tesla to be fined $20 million in civil fines as well as Musk stepping down from the role of Chairman at Tesla. Musk also agreed at the time to let a Tesla lawyer screen his tweets that could contain material info about the company.

Later, the SEC opened a probe and subpoenaed documents concerning Musk and Tesla¡¯s compliance with the decision after he was seen asking his Twitter followers if he should sell 10 percent of his Tesla shares to pay for his tax bills on stock options.

Musk argued that the decree and subpoena undermine his constitutional right to free speech while also stating that the SEC is launching endless boundless investigations of his speech.

Reuters

Also read: Elon Musk's $44 Billion Deal To Buy Twitter Could Be Repriced At A Lower Rate

Liman rejected these arguments claiming them to be unpersuasive. The judge added that Musk cannot escape the decree by ¡°bemoaning that he felt like he had to agree to it at the time but now once the spectre of the litigation is a distant memory and his combat has become, in his estimation, all but invincible- wishes that he had not.¡±

This comes at a time when Musk is in the process of acquiring the microblogging platform Twitter for $44 billion.

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