Musk said Twitter should follow local law in India. (DOSSIER)
Washington:
Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who is locked in a court battle with Twitter over a failed takeover bid that Twitter is now seeking to force through, said the social media giant put its third-largest market at risk. big on not disclosing “risky” litigation against the Indian government. .
In a counterclaim in a Delaware court that was filed under seal last Friday and made public Thursday, Musk also claimed he was “tricked” into signing the deal to buy the San.-based social media company Francis.
Musk said Twitter should follow local law in India, according to court documents. Snapshots of the court documents were seen circulating on Twitter posted by New York Times technology reporter Kate Conger.
“In 2021, India’s information technology ministry imposed certain rules that allowed the government to investigate social media posts, demand identifying information and prosecute companies that refused to comply. While Musk is an advocate for free speech, he believes moderation on Twitter should ‘be’ close to the laws of the countries where Twitter operates,” read part of the legal filings in the Twitter Vs Musk lawsuit , as New York Times tech reporter Kate Conger posted in a series of tweets.
To Elon Musk’s claims in court documents, Twitter responded that it “respectfully defers to the Court for its full and accurate content. Twitter does not have sufficient knowledge or information to believe the truth of the allegations,” and said that “therefore deny. them on that basis.”
Referring to a petition filed in the Karnataka High Court in July, Musk also objected to Twitter’s failure to disclose litigation against the Indian government.
“Twitter says it has challenged certain blocking orders issued by the Indian government under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, which orders Twitter to remove certain content from its platform, including content by 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 its business in India would shut down if it complied with Indian government orders to block content deemed illegal by relevant authorities. The High Court had issued notices to the Center and adjourned the hearing to August 25.
The microblogging website and the world’s richest man are now headed to trial on October 17 after Musk tried to abandon his deal to acquire Twitter over what he says is a misrepresentation of fake accounts on the site.
Twitter is trying to force Musk to stick with the deal while accusing him of sabotaging it because it no longer served its interests.
In early April, Musk reached an acquisition agreement with Twitter for $54.20 per share in a transaction valued at approximately $44 billion.
In May, Musk suspended the deal to allow his team to review the veracity of 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 NDTV staff and is being published from a syndicated feed.)