In court battle with Twitter, Elon Musk points to the Indian government

Washington:

Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who is locked in a court battle with Twitter over a failed takeover attempt Twitter now plans to impose, said the social media giant has put its third-largest market at risk by not disclosing “risky” lawsuits against the Indian government. .

In a counterclaim in Delaware court filed under seal last Friday and announced Thursday, Musk also claimed he was “scammed” into signing a deal to buy the San Francisco-based social media company.

Musk said Twitter must follow local law in India, according to court documents. Screenshots of court documents were seen circulating on Twitter posted by Kate Conger, a New York Times technology reporter.

“In 2021, India’s Ministry of Information Technology imposed certain rules that allow the government to investigate social media posts, demand personally identifiable information, and prosecute companies that have refused to comply. While Musk is a free speech advocate, he believes moderation on Twitter should be respected. Close to the laws of the countries where Twitter operates “Read a portion of the legal filings in the Twitter Vs Musk lawsuit, as posted by New York Times tech correspondent Kate Conger in a series of tweets.

As for Elon Musk’s averages in court filings, Twitter responded that it “respects the court for its complete and accurate contents. Twitter lacks sufficient knowledge or information to form a belief in the veracity of the allegations,” and said it “thus denies them on this basis.”

Referring to a petition filed in the Karnataka High Court in July, Musk also objected to Twitter’s failure to disclose a lawsuit against the Indian government.

“Twitter acknowledges that it has challenged certain blocking orders issued by the Indian government under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, which directs Twitter to remove certain content from its platform, including content from politicians, activists, and journalists, and that Twitter is legal,” the company said in its response.

Twitter, through its lawyer at the Karnataka High Court, said their business in India would be shut down if they comply with Indian government orders to block content deemed illegal by relevant authorities. The Supreme Court had issued notices to the center and adjourned the session on August 25.

The microblogging site and the world’s richest man is now heading to trial on October 17 after Musk sought to abandon his Twitter takeover deal over what he says is a misrepresentation of fake accounts on the site.

Twitter is trying to force Musk to pursue the deal while accusing him of sabotaging it because it no longer serves his interests.

Earlier in April, Musk reached an acquisition agreement with Twitter for $54.20 per share in a deal valued at approximately $44 billion.

In May, Musk suspended the deal to allow his team to review Twitter’s claim that less than 5 percent of accounts on the platform are bots or spam.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by the NDTV crew and is published from a syndicated feed.)