Supreme Court Rejects Musk Appeal Over Tweets That Must Be Approved By Tesla

WASHINGTON – On Monday, the Supreme Court dismissed Elon Musk’s appeal about a deal with securities authorities. The settlement mandates that Elon obtain prior approval for some tweets related to Tesla, the electric vehicle firm he heads.

Supreme Court Rejects Musk Appeal Over Tweets That Must Be Approved By Tesla

The justices refrained from making any comments and upheld the lower court’s findings against Musk. Elon said that the requirement constitutes a “prior restraint” on his expression, which he believes violates the First Amendment.

The case arises from tweets Musk sent in 2018, in which he asserted that he had obtained the necessary funds to privatize Tesla. The tweets significantly increased the company’s stock price and prompted a temporary suspension of trading.

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Supreme Court Rejects Musk Appeal Over Tweets That Must Be Approved By Tesla

As part of the agreement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, it was mandated that his tweets must receive prior approval from a legal representative at Tesla. Additionally, it demanded that Elon and Tesla be subjected to monetary penalties for the tweets in which Elon claimed to have “secured funding” to privatize Tesla for $420 per share.

Tesla still needs to obtain the necessary capital to continue to be a publicly-traded company.

The SEC’s initial enforcement action against Elon claimed that his tweets on the privatization of the company violated antifraud provisions of securities laws.

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Supreme Court Rejects Musk Appeal Over Tweets That Must Be Approved By Tesla

The agency initiated an investigation in 2021 to determine whether Musk breached the settlement by failing to obtain prior clearance before soliciting his Twitter followers, currently numbering X, for their opinion on whether he should sell 10% of his Tesla shares.

In 2022, Elon purchased Twitter.

SOURCE – (AP)