Elon Musk is prohibited from criticizing Twitter via tweet in a clause of his $44 billion buyout agreement with the company, a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing shows.
The agreement, finalized Monday, states that Musk “shall be permitted to issue Tweets about the Merger or the transactions contemplated hereby so long as such Tweets do not disparage the Company or its Representatives,” according to the filing. The SEC filing refers to Musk as the “equity investor.”
Musk seemingly tested these boundaries in a Tuesday tweet responding to podcast host Saagar Enjeti’s commentary on Twitter’s lawyer, Vijaya Gadde, reportedly crying at a virtual meeting over the deal. The Tesla CEO publicly ripped the platform for locking the New York Post’s account in 2020 for sharing a report on Hunter Biden’s laptop.
“Suspending the Twitter account of a major news organization for publishing a truthful story was obviously incredibly inappropriate,” Musk said. (RELATED: ‘Incredibly Inappropriate’: Musk Rips Twitter For Suspending The New York Post For Their Hunter Biden Story)
Suspending the Twitter account of a major news organization for publishing a truthful story was obviously incredibly inappropriate
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 26, 2022
He also responded to Mike Cernovich’s Tuesday tweet pointing to a report about Twitter lawyer Jim Baker, who worked for the FBI in the past, arranging a meeting between the FBI and former Democratic National Convention and Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann.
“@elonmusk, this is who is inside Twitter,” Cernovich said, before alleging, “He facilitated fraud.”
“Sounds pretty bad, ” Musk responded.
Sounds pretty bad …
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 27, 2022
The Tesla CEO also replied to a Twitter user who posted his statement following the agreement on Monday attached to non-player characters (NPCs) labeled with the logos of different news organizations all saying “this is extremely dangerous to our democracy.” Musk, in turn, replied, “Can someone please give the NPCs a bigger dialogue tree!?”
Musk and the company are both subject to a $1 billion breakup fee if either party violates certain provisions laid out in the agreement, according to the SEC filing.