Musk, the world’s richest person, was accused of falsely claiming on social media that Twitter did not report how many fake and spam accounts existed on the platform
A federal jury in the United States this Friday found Elon Musk responsible in a case in which he is accused of defrauding Twitter shareholders by trying to lower the company’s share price so that he could renegotiate or withdraw from the acquisition of the social network for US$44 billion in 2022.
Musk, the world’s richest person, was accused of falsely claiming on social media that Twitter did not report how many fake and spammy accounts, known as bots, existed on the platform.
Damages have not yet been calculated, but Francis Bottini, a lawyer for the shareholders, estimated they could total around US$2.5 billion.
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“Musk’s status as the richest man in the world is not a free pass,” Bottini said in a statement. ‘If you are able to move the markets with your tweets, you are responsible for the harm you cause to investors.’
In a joint statement, Musk’s lawyers called the verdict “a bump in the road.” And we look forward to him being vindicated on appeal.’
Musk has always chosen to face shareholders in court instead of reaching a settlement. The Twitter purchase was completed in October 2022 and the company was later rebranded as X.
