Tesla’s Elon Musk is preparing to head to trial with Twitter next month, though another court battle shows the billionaire entrepreneur calling out a federal agency for allegedly stifling his free speech in a separate case.
Musk’s lawyers are claiming that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has imposed a “muzzle” on the CEO’s speech before it’s made, as detailed in a court brief filed on Tuesday (via NBC News).
Lawyers for Musk have claimed that the securities agency has imposed a “government-imposed muzzle on Mr. Musk’s speech before it is made.”
The statements come in response to the SEC’s pre-approval process for Musk’s Twitter account, a decision made following a 2018 tweet that officials claim was false.
Elon Musk Quotes Eminem in Court Filing Opposing SEC Oversight https://t.co/AL8QzskWCS
— TeslaNorth.com (@RealTeslaNorth) March 29, 2022
“The pre-approval provision in the consent decree qualifies as a prior restraint on speech that runs afoul of the First Amendment,” Spiro wrote. “It forbids future lawful speech on a range of topics absent approval.”
The current settlement comes from a 2018 tweet in which Musk claimed he had “funding secured” to take Tesla private.
In May, a judge ruled that this tweet was inaccurate, retaining the imposition of SEC oversight on Musk’s Twitter account.
