A federal appeals court rejected Elon Muskchallenging his 2018 settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission requiring him to publish his Twitter posts related to Tesla shielded.
A Manhattan court on Monday ruled against Musk’s free speech claims just days after a three-judge panel heard arguments in the case Thursday.
Musk, the CEO of Tesla and now the owner of Twitter, had said the SEC deal violated the First Amendment to the US Constitution and that the agency was harassing him. The court quickly dismissed those arguments in a seven-page order.
“We see no evidence to support Musk’s claim that the SEC used the consent decree to conduct bad faith and harassment investigations into his protected speech,” the panel said, upholding a lower court ruling in the US. Last year.
Ellyde Thompson, who argued the case for Musk on Thursday, did not immediately return a phone message asking for comment on the ruling.
Musk has battled the SEC over his social media posts since tweeting in 2018 that he had “finance secured” to take Tesla private, sending shares of the electric machine growing producer. The regulator sued, claiming Musk and Tesla had misled shareholders. Musk and Tesla settled with the SEC, each paying $20 million and agreeing that Musk’s Tesla-related tweets would be scrutinized before he posted them.
Last year, US District Judge Lewis Liman refused to release Musk from the settlement and end his “Twitter Sitter” requirement, saying the CEO was “simply complaining that he felt he had to agree at the time” and now” wishes he didn’t have it. Liman also denied Musk’s attempt to block an SEC subpoena seeking information on his tweets.
The case is US Securities and Exchange Commission v. Musk, 22-1291, 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals (Manhattan).
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