Elon Musk Defends Tweets in High-Stakes Twitter Shareholder Trial
Elon Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, took the stand in a San Francisco courtroom on Wednesday, March 4, 2026, to face serious allegations from Twitter shareholders. The lawsuit, originally filed in October 2022, accuses Musk of deliberately manipulating Twitter's stock price through false and misleading public statements prior to his monumental $44 billion acquisition of the social media platform in late 2022.
Shareholder Allegations and Key Tweets Under Scrutiny
The legal action represents shareholders who sold their Twitter stock between May 13 and October 4, 2022. It contends that Musk violated federal securities laws by issuing statements "carefully calculated to drive down the price of Twitter stock." Central to the case is Musk's tweet on May 13, 2022, which declared his plan to buy Twitter was "temporarily on hold" pending verification of spam and fake accounts. The lawsuit asserts this claim was false, as Twitter had not agreed to any pause and the merger agreement contained no provision for unilateral halts.
During intense questioning by plaintiff's lawyer Aaron P. Arnzen, Musk was pressed on his social media activity and his initial accumulation of Twitter shares. Dressed formally in a black suit and tie, Musk testified that he did not consider his early 2022 stock purchases "material" and therefore did not disclose them to the Securities and Exchange Commission or tweet about them. "I had bought stock in many companies without publicizing it," he stated.
Market Impact and Musk's Defence
The financial consequences of Musk's statements were stark. Following his May 13 tweet, Twitter's stock price plummeted nearly 10% in a single day. Conversely, when his significant stake in the company later became public knowledge, the stock surged by an astonishing 27%. "That sounds high," Musk remarked when presented with this figure during testimony.
Arnzen repeatedly questioned whether Musk considered the potential market impact of his tweets. Musk maintained his defence, asserting "I was simply speaking my mind." He likened his "temporarily on hold" statement to informing someone you will be late for a meeting, emphasizing it did not mean he was abandoning the deal entirely.
Broader Context and Historical Precedent
The trial revealed broader tensions surrounding the acquisition. Musk intensified his focus on Twitter's bot problem in July 2022, announcing he would abandon his offer despite having waived due diligence rights. "It subsequently turned out they misrepresented the number of bots," Musk asserted. "They lied." This claim exists alongside Twitter's historical disclosures; the company had paid $809.5 million in 2021 to settle allegations of overstating user growth and had consistently reported bot estimates to regulators while cautioning they might be conservative.
This is not Musk's first courtroom defence regarding investor communications. Three years prior, he testified for approximately eight hours in a separate San Francisco trial concerning his 2018 statements about taking Tesla private at $420 per share, a case where a jury ultimately found him not liable.
Aftermath of the Acquisition
The legal battle culminated with Musk ultimately proceeding with his original $44 billion offer in October 2022, which Twitter accepted. Following the acquisition's closure, Musk implemented sweeping changes: significant workforce reductions, dismantling of trust and safety teams, and rollbacks of content moderation policies. In July 2023, he completed the platform's transformation by rebranding Twitter as X.
The ongoing trial continues to examine whether Musk's pre-acquisition communications constituted a "scheme to deceive the market" as alleged, with shareholders seeking redress for substantial financial losses during the volatile period of his takeover bid.
