Twitter Now Taking Elon Musk’s Friends To Court?
The Elon Musk versus Twitter saga has taken yet another windy turn. The social media platform has now subpoenaed the billionaire's friends.
This article is more than 2 years old
The plot thickens once again in the ongoing Twitter versus Elon Musk saga. If you haven’t been keeping up, here’s the short version. Elon Musk bought Twitter only to give the social media giant the runaround when it came time to close the deal. Musk repeatedly requested data pertaining to how many bots were on the platform at any given time. Even after Twitter essentially gave Musk the keys to the kingdom, the billionaire still did not commit to the deal. Musk’s failure to satisfy his contractual obligation resulted in Twitter taking the mogul to court. Now, according to Business Insider, Twitter is subpoenaing the billionaire’s friends, adding yet another element to this already twisted tale.
Twitter is reportedly calling on Chamath Palihapitiya and Marc Andreessen, amongst a slew of other top Silicon Valley players in Musk’s circle, to testify against him in court. The reason why Twitter is summoning all of these billionaires that work closely with Musk or run in his circles to testify is that they are trying to determine if Musk ever actually intended to go through with the purchase agreement. There is suspicion of this because even after Twitter essentially handed Musk the reigns by giving him access to every data metric plausible, he still refused to follow through with his contractual obligation. A contractual obligation that he initiated. Thus, the obvious logic is that Twitter wants to question Musk’s pals under oath to see if he said anything in confidence to them that would suggest he never had intentions of following through with the purchase.
Some subpoenaed parties already expressed their dissatisfaction with having been so. Joe Lonsdale expressed his grievances, ironically, on Twitter of all places. He referred to the subpoena as being “Hereby commanded” by the platform. And referred to Twitter’s actions as a “phishing expedition” for those in the “ecosystem.” Read his not-so-subtle tweet below.
David Sacks, also among those ordered to appear in court, took to Twitter to voice his grievances against Twitter, too. In his tweet, Sacks posted a picture of the subpoena. He also referred to the platform as “vindictive.”
Interestingly enough, however, one of the primary reasons Musk initially expressed wanting to buy Twitter in the first place was because he believed the platform did not allow enough free speech. Yet, the aforementioned gentlemen seem to be speaking very freely in their tweets. Regardless, the trial is set to commence in October. Once it begins it will reportedly take place over a 5 day period. Musk was reported to want a trial stay until January. However, the judge overseeing the case ruled in the social media titan’s favor, asserting that the whole debacle served as a detriment to Twitter’s business and consequently its shareholders.
Ultimately, the trial’s conclusion will reveal whether or not Musk conspired to never purchase the social media platform. It will also serve to determine whether or not the billionaire will be forced to go through with the purchase. And, if nothing else, it certainly will be interesting to see what those in Musk’s inner circle do or don’t have to say,
