Musk loses attraction of SEC ‘Twitter Sitter’ ruling on Tesla tweets

A federal appeals court docket rejected Elon Musk’s problem to his 2018 settlement with the U.S. Securities and Trade Fee that required him to have his Twitter posts associated to Tesla screened.

The court docket in Manhattan on Monday dominated in opposition to Musk’s free speech claims simply days after a three-judge panel heard arguments within the case on Thursday.

Musk, Tesla’s chief govt officer and now the proprietor of Twitter, had claimed that the settlement with the SEC violated the First Modification to the U.S. Structure and that the company was harassing him. The court docket shortly rejected these arguments in a seven-page order.

“We see no proof to help Musk’s rivalry that the SEC has used the consent decree to conduct bad-faith, harassing investigations of his protected speech,” the panel stated, upholding a lower-court ruling final 12 months.

Ellyde Thompson, who argued the case for Musk on Thursday, didn’t instantly return a cellphone message looking for touch upon the ruling.

Musk has been battling with the SEC over his social media posts since he tweeted in 2018 that he had “funding secured” to take Tesla personal, sending shares of the electrical automobile maker surging. The regulator sued, claiming Musk and Tesla had misled shareholders. Musk and Tesla settled with the SEC, with every paying $20 million and agreeing that Musk’s Tesla-related tweets can be reviewed earlier than he posts them.

Final 12 months, U.S. District Choose Lewis Liman refused to launch Musk from the deal and finish his “Twitter Sitter” requirement, saying the CEO was “merely bemoaning that he felt like he needed to comply with it on the time” and now “needs that he had not.” Liman additionally denied Musk’s effort to dam an SEC subpoena looking for info on his tweets.

The case is US Securities and Trade Fee v. Musk, 22-1291, 2nd US Circuit Courtroom of Appeals (Manhattan).