US Supreme Court rejects Musk appeal over tweets that must be approved by Tesla
29 April 2024, 17:24
The case stems from tweets Mr Musk posted in 2018 in which he claimed he had secured funding to take Tesla private.
The US Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from Elon Musk over a settlement with securities regulators that requires him to get approval in advance of some tweets that relate to Tesla, the electric vehicle company he leads.
The justices did not comment when leaving in place lower-court rulings against Mr Musk, who complained that the requirement amounts to “prior restraint” on his speech in violation of the First Amendment.
The case stems from tweets Mr Musk posted in 2018 in which he claimed he had secured funding to take Tesla private. The tweets caused the company’s share price to jump and led to a temporary halt in trading.
The settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) included a requirement that his tweets be approved first by a Tesla lawyer.
It also called for Mr Musk and Tesla to pay civil fines over the tweets in which Mr Musk said he had “funding secured” to take Tesla private at 420 dollars per share.
The funding was not secured and Tesla remains public.
The SEC’s initial enforcement action against Mr Musk alleged that his tweets about going private violated anti-fraud provisions of securities laws.
The agency began investigating whether Mr Musk violated the settlement in 2021 when he did not get approval before asking followers on Twitter, now X, if he should sell 10% of his Tesla stock.
Mr Musk acquired Twitter in 2022.
