Elon Musk’s Latest Twitter Tactic Got Shut Down
Elon Musk was attempting to get his Twitter lawsuit delayed, but a judge has now shut that request down.
If there is anything that Elon Musk is good at besides business, it’s his stellar way of making himself the story rather than his business acumen. Controversy and legal problems seem to follow Musk wherever he goes, even when he appears to be in the right most of the time. With humble beginnings founding what became PayPal, the tech billionaire is now the world’s wealthiest man and famous for his investing techniques. Having formed Tesla and SpaceX, Musk is well-known throughout the world for his role as an industry leader and pioneer in the technology space, making him an influential voice to so many. However, his recent attempt to buy Twitter has been met with many problems, and now he is experiencing yet another round of pushback in court.
According to a report by CNN Business, the judge overseeing Elon Musk’s Twitter trial has denied his request to delay the trial altogether. Musk is currently battling with Twitter executives over a $44 billion acquisition of the company that never took place because Musk retracted his offer in the late stages of negotiations. Twitter fired back at the tech mogul by suing him in court for the reported amount they believe he owes them. The trial is set to begin in October and will most likely run for five days, despite Musk and his attorneys’ attempt to delay the trial by about a month or so.
Much of the concern that Elon Musk and his attorneys brought up to the judge as to the basis of why the trial should be pushed back is primarily due to security vulnerabilities on Twitter’s behalf that have now come to light. The Hill reports that Peiter Zatko, the former security chief at Twitter, has become a whistleblower. He has been spreading the word that Twitter contains security deficiencies in place. Zatko says that many of these deficiencies may be of a national security concern and affect the privacy of many of the social media platform’s users. Zatko had warned Twitter about his concerns and was apparently met with silence, prompting him to file a complaint with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Department of Justice, and the Federal Trade Commission last August.
Elon Musk may be trying to use the newly informed public as leverage in his trial with Twitter, most likely hoping to discover more vulnerabilities that would be a tool to have the trial dismissed altogether. He is known for wild antics that seem to become more controversial by the day, including when he cited a speech by Vladimir Putin in a text message exchange with a banker, according to The Insider. Via text, Musk described his former deal with Twitter as disjointed, noting that it appears he was “heading into World War 3.” The former Saturday Night Live host seems to constantly be at odds with anyone he does business with, but since his current trial is on track to start in a month, it should stand to reason that Musk will try anything to delay the inevitable.
