According to a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing, Elon Musk is forbidden from criticizing Twitter via tweet under a stipulation in his $44 billion takeover agreement with the firm.
As per the filing, the contract specifies that Musk “shall be permitted to issue Tweets about the Merger or the transactions contemplated hereby so long as such Tweets do not disparage the Company or its Representatives.” Musk is referred to as a “equity investor” in the SEC filing.
Musk appeared to push these boundaries in a tweet on Tuesday in response to podcast host Saagar Enjeti’s criticism about Twitter’s lawyer, Vijaya Gadde, purportedly crying during a virtual meeting over the sale. The Tesla CEO blasted the platform openly for blocking the New York Post’s account in 2020 for releasing an article about Hunter Biden’s laptop.
“Suspending the Twitter account of a major news organization for publishing a truthful story was obviously incredibly inappropriate,” Musk said.
He also replied to Mike Cernovich’s Tuesday tweet, which referenced a story about Twitter lawyer Jim Baker, who previously worked for the FBI, organizing a conference between the FBI and former Democratic National Convention and Clinton campaign counsel Michael Sussmann.
“@elonmusk, this is who is inside Twitter,” Cernovich said, before alleging, “He facilitated fraud.”
“Sounds pretty bad, ” Musk responded.
The Tesla CEO also responded to a Twitter user who shared his statement following the deal on Monday, which was tied to non-player characters (NPCs) tagged with the logos of several news companies, all of which said “this is extremely dangerous to our democracy.” “Can someone please give the NPCs a bigger dialogue tree!” Musk responded.
According to the SEC filing, Musk and the corporation are both susceptible to a $1 billion breakup fee if any party breaches specific aspects of the contract.