On Monday, the Supreme Court denied Elon Musk's appeal on a deal with securities authorities that mandates he get permission before tweeting about Tesla. The AP reports that Musk claimed the condition violated his First Amendment rights by imposing "prior restraint" on his expression, but the judges remained silent and upheld earlier court findings. The action is based on statements made by Musk in 2018 on Twitter, whereby he said that he had obtained capital to take Tesla private. The tweets resulted in a brief stop in trade and a spike in the company's share price.
An order from Tesla's counsel approving his tweets was part of the deal with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, it demanded that Musk and Tesla pay civil penalties for the tweets in which Musk claimed to have "funding secured" for a $420 per share takeover of Tesla. Unsecured finance prevented Tesla from going public. In its first enforcement action, the SEC accused Musk of breaking securities laws' antifraud provisions by tweeting about going private. The government started looking into whether Musk broke the terms of the settlement in 2021 when he asked followers on Twitter, X in particular, whether he should sell 10% of his Tesla shares without first getting permission. In2022, Musk purchased Twitter.
An order from Tesla's counsel approving his tweets was part of the deal with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, it demanded that Musk and Tesla pay civil penalties for the tweets in which Musk claimed to have "funding secured" for a $420 per share takeover of Tesla. Unsecured finance prevented Tesla from going public. In its first enforcement action, the SEC accused Musk of breaking securities laws' antifraud provisions by tweeting about going private. The government started looking into whether Musk broke the terms of the settlement in 2021 when he asked followers on Twitter, X in particular, whether he should sell 10% of his Tesla shares without first getting permission. In2022, Musk purchased Twitter.
