Elon Musk recently lost his bid to remove his “Twitter sitter” as per a legal agreement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The SEC agreement requires Musk to seek legal approval for any posts he makes on Twitter about Tesla. Musk settled with the SEC in 2018 after tweeting about plans to take Tesla private, which was found to be misleading. Musk argued that the agreement limited his freedom of speech, but the Supreme Court rejected his appeal.
Despite Musk’s claims that the settlement restrains his speech, the Supreme Court declined to reconsider the case. Musk’s lawyers argued that the agreement forced Musk to seek approval even for truthful and accurate statements, and subjected him to the threat of fines, contempt, or imprisonment for unapproved posts. In a separate filing, Musk quoted Eminem lyrics in a challenge to the settlement.
Musk, who runs Tesla, SpaceX, and X, has a history of conflicts with government agencies. He has criticized the SEC, called President Joe Biden derogatory names, and challenged Brazil’s legal authorities. The SEC recently initiated a new investigation into Tesla’s self-driving technology, which has faced scrutiny from regulators and has been linked to numerous crashes. Tesla and X have not yet commented on the Supreme Court’s decision regarding Musk’s appeal.