Twitter wins its first legal battle against Elon Musk

The trial of Twitter against Elon Musk will be held in October. The first of the legal battles between the social network and the entrepreneur has been won by the former, as Musk had requested a postponement.

What has prompted Twitter's lawsuit against the creator of Tesla is that Elon Musk has finally withdrawn his offer of $54.20 per share for the company; a purchase that involved the outlay of $44 billion. Twitter's board, which resolutely but unsuccessfully defended itself to Musk's attempt to buy the company, now takes a contrary position and wants a court to force it to complete the purchase.

Elon Musk does not trust

The change in Elon Musk's decision is due to his accusing the company of withholding information from him about the number of fake accounts operating on the social network. The company has provided him with Twitter's "firehose"; that is, the stream of all tweets that are posted. And it has given him a report that would detail how many accounts are fake. But Elon Musk doesn't trust it. He believes the company has not been honest.

The question is important to Musk, because if he knows the percentage of fake accounts, he will also know the percentage of real accounts, as well as their growth. And the commercial possibilities, and consequently the true value of the company, depend on it.

To cast a pall on Twitter

The matter is being settled in the state of Delaware. The judge has refused to delay the trial, since this would mean that "a cloud of uncertainty" would hang over the company's future. "Delay could cause irreparable harm. The greater the damage, the greater the risk."

The lawsuit accuses Elon Musk of a host of violations of law that predate what would have been the company's purchase. The company accused him of having "cast a pall" over it. The main current damage on Twitter is precisely the uncertainty hanging over the company, according to Twitter's lead attorney, William Savitt.