Tesla CEO Elon Musk claims Twitter failed to disclose lawsuit against Indian government

Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, accused Twitter of endangering its third-largest market by failing to disclose "risky" litigation against the Indian government. Twitter and Tesla CEO are currently engaged in a legal dispute over a failed acquisition bid that the social media giant now plans to push through.

Musk also claimed that he was "hoodwinked" into signing the deal to buy the San Francisco-based social media company in a countersuit filed under seal in a Delaware court on July 29 and made public on August 4. In India, Musk reportedly stated that Twitter should abide by local laws, according to court records. Images of the court documents were shared on Twitter by a tech reporter of the New York Times.

"In 2021, India’s information technology ministry imposed certain rules allowing the government to probe social media posts, demand identifying information, and prosecute companies that refused to comply. While Musk is a proponent of free speech, he believes that moderation on Twitter should "hew close to the laws of countries in which Twitter operates," read some of the court documents related to the Twitter vs Musk lawsuit that were shared by New York Times reporter.

Twitter responded to Elon Musk's allegations in court documents by referring them respectfully to the court for their complete and accurate contents. Twitter stated that it "denies the allegations on the basis that it lacks knowledge or information sufficient to form a belief as to the truth of the allegations."

Musk also took issue with Twitter's failure to disclose litigation it was involved in with the Indian government, citing a petition that was submitted to the Karnataka High Court in July.

'Twitter avers it has challenged certain blocking orders issued by Indian govt'

According to the company's response, "Twitter avers that it has challenged certain blocking orders issued by the Indian government under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, directing Twitter to remove certain content from its platform, including content from politicians, activists, and journalists, and that Twitter’s legal."

Through a lawyer at the Karnataka High Court, Twitter declared that their operations in India would shut down if they complied with directives from the Indian government to remove content that competent authorities had deemed to be unlawful. The High Court had given the Centre notices and continued the hearing until August 25.

Following Musk's attempt to back out of his agreement to purchase Twitter due to what he claims is a misrepresentation of fake accounts on the platform, the microblogging website and the world's richest man will now go to trial on October 17.

Twitter is attempting to pressure Musk into carrying out the agreement while claiming that he sabotaged it because it no longer suited his interests. Earlier in April, Musk and Twitter agreed to be acquired at a price of USD 54.20 per share, for a total transaction value of around USD 44 billion. Musk put the agreement on hold in May so that his team could examine Twitter's claim that fewer than 5% of accounts on the platform are spam or bots.

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