Global Courant 2023-05-15 23:50:36
STORY: Another legal defeat for Elon Musk.
A U.S. federal appeals court on Monday rejected Tesla’s CEO’s bid to end the requirement that a Tesla lawyer pre-approve some of his tweets.
Musk’s lawyers argued that the mandate was a “government-imposed muzzle” that violated his right to free speech.
He agreed to the restriction as part of a 2018 securities fraud settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC.
It settled an SEC lawsuit accusing Musk of defrauding investors with a tweet that he had “secured funding” to take his electric car company private.
It required a preliminary review of tweets that could contain material information about Tesla.
Musk and Tesla also paid $20 million each in civil fines, and Musk relinquished his role as chairman.
In this case, the court said the SEC had conducted limited, appropriate investigations and had not made compliance more difficult.
It also pointed out that the SEC had just opened two consecutive investigations into Musk’s tweets, and that those tweets “plausibly violated” the terms of the decree.
In addition, Musk had agreed to the arrangement and had no right to review it because he had changed his mind.
Monday’s decision upheld a lower court ruling from April 2022.
Elon Musk loses bid to end SEC ‘muzzle’
Read more about Elon Musk’s bid to end SEC muzzle
