SCOTUS Rules Against Musk
On Monday, April 29th, The Supreme Court of the United States has rejected an appeal from Elon Musk, who is currently an owner, chief technology officer (CTO) and executive chairman of X (formerly known as Twitter). Musk had filed this appeal over a settlement with the SEC which required him to get approval in advance of some social media posts that relate to Tesla, the electric vehicle company that he leads.
Musk had complained that lower court’s ruling amounted to “prior restraint” of his speech in violation of the First Amendment. The case is Musk v. SEC, 23-626.
How It Started?
The case originally stems form certain posts that Musk published on Twitter in 2018. In those posts Musk had claimed that he had secured funding to take Tesla private. These tweets caused the company’s share price to jump and caused a temporary halt in trading of #TWTR. This was never materialized and Tesla remains public to this day.
According to the settlement reached by Elon Musk and the SEC, he has to receive the approval of Tesla’s attorneys prior to publishing them on Twitter.
History of SEC’s Investigation
The SEC’s initial enforcement action against Musk alleged that his tweets about going private violated the securities regulations. Thereafter, the agency began investigation as to whether Elon Musk violated the settlement made in 2021 when he failed to receive such approval before asking his followers whether he should sell 10% of his Tesla stock.
Conclusion
It was ruled by the SCOTUS for once and all that Elon Musk will continue to have his tweets pre-approved by Tesla’s attorneys and this indeed does not infringe his First Amendment rights.