Twitter has rejected Elon Musk’s claims in courtroom that he had professional causes to again out of a $44bn deal to buy the social media platform, marking the newest improvement in a dramatic authorized showdown.
In a submitting made public on Thursday, Twitter known as Musk’s arguments for abandoning the deal “a narrative, imagined in an effort to flee a merger settlement that Musk now not discovered engaging as soon as the inventory market and together with it, his huge private wealth, declined in worth”.
Twitter sued Musk final month to power him to finish the deal, and the corporate’s submitting on Thursday is available in response to Musk’s personal counter lawsuit, which he filed underneath seal final week and which is because of be made public on Friday.
The present standoff started after Musk claimed Twitter was not forthcoming about the issue with spam bots on the platform, citing it as his purpose for abandoning the deal. The social media agency had claimed spam accounts made up lower than 5% of greater than 200 million customers however Musk insisted that the quantity was greater and accused Twitter of withholding info on the issue. Twitter, in the meantime, has accused Musk of “conjuring” the problem to flee the deal with out penalty.
“The counterclaims are a made-for-litigation story that's contradicted by the proof and customary sense,” Twitter’s response says, in accordance with authorized paperwork obtained by Reuters. “Musk invents representations Twitter by no means made after which tries to wield, selectively, the in depth confidential information Twitter supplied him to conjure a breach of these purported representations.”
On the identical time, the response says, Musk additionally accused Twitter of breaching their settlement by “stonewalling” his info requests. Twitter denies this and says info was supplied when requested.
Attorneys for Musk had needed to file a public model of their reply and counterclaims in Delaware courtroom on Wednesday. However Twitter attorneys complained that they wanted extra time to overview and probably redact Musk’s sealed submitting, saying it refers “extensively” to inside Twitter info and information given to Musk.
Musk, the world’s richest man, agreed in April to purchase Twitter and take it non-public, providing $54.20 a share and vowing to loosen the corporate’s policing of content material and to root out pretend accounts. However Musk mentioned in July that he needed to again out of the deal, prompting the present authorized drama.
Both Musk or Twitter could be entitled to a $1bn breakup charge if the opposite get together is discovered liable for the settlement failing. Twitter needs extra, nevertheless, and is searching for a courtroom order of “particular efficiency” directing Musk to comply with via with the deal.
Reuters contributed reporting
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