The legal soap opera after the failed takeover of Twitter continues. The Tesla and SpaceX boss has accused the social network of “fraud” in the lawsuit over the $44 billion deal he signed to acquire the social network but is now seeking to terminate. The multi-billionaire, in arguments filed Thursday evening in a Delaware state business court, accuses Twitter of having defrauded the number of monetizable accounts of the social network, according to this 165-page court document consulted Friday by the France Media Agency.
Elon Musk’s lawyers accuse Twitter of “obscuring the truth” about the social network’s claimed number of 238 million monetizable daily users. According to them, they are about 65 million fewer and “the majority of ads” would only appear “to less than 16 million users, a fraction” of what Twitter claims. The complaint, which calls the social network’s “misrepresentations” a “sin,” claims that “Twitter frantically blocked information from circulating in a desperate attempt to prevent the fraud from being uncovered.”
In mid-July, Twitter sued Elon Musk in the Delaware Court of Chancery, a court specializing in business law, to force him to honor his acquisition commitment for $ 44 billion. The trial is due to start on October 17. Two weeks later, the world’s richest man responded with a “confidential” complaint.
The official documents filed by the platform with the American stock market policeman “contain numerous material misrepresentations and omissions which distort the value of Twitter and led Elon Musk to agree to buy the company at an inflated price”, assure the lawyers of business man. Twitter’s strategy, they continue, has been to “play hide and seek” to keep the buyer from “discerning the truth” for as long as possible.
Between the general decline in the stock market in recent months, the drop in social media advertising revenue linked to economic conditions and public criticism from Elon Musk, Twitter’s stock crashed to around $32 on July 11. It was worth $41.97 this Friday, up 2.20%. The title of Tesla lost 6.05% to 869.92 dollars.