Elon Musk’s request to delay Twitter trial starting October 17 rejected by Delaware court
Elon Musk had requested a delay in the hearing of the Twitter trial citing security concerns that were raised by a whistleblower recently.
Elon Musk’s request to delay the hearing of the Twitter trial starting October 17 has been rejected by a Delaware court. This comes less than a week after Musk’s attorney requested the court on September 2 to delay the hearing citing further discussions with a person who blew the whistle on the microblogging site. The whistleblower named Peiter Zatko alleged that Twitter misled regulators about its poor cybersecurity defenses and its negligence in attempting to root out fake accounts that spread misinformation.
While Chancellor of the Delaware Court of Chancery Kathaleen McCormick refused to push the date of the hearing, she said that Musk can use the claims made by Zatko, Twitter’s former head of security, in his arguments. The hearing will be conducted to resolve the deadlock between the SpaceX CEO and Twitter as the former now refuses to materialise his $44 billion acquisition deal. Notably, Chancellor McCormick’s decision is in line with her push for a speedy trial to prevent the micro-blogging site from unwanted harm.
“The company has been forced for months to manage under the constraints of a repudiated merger agreement,” wrote McCormick in her statement, as per The Verge. “I am convinced that even four weeks’ delay would risk further harm to Twitter too great to justify,” she further wrote. Musk, on the other hand, has been reluctant to carry out the deal citing Twitter’s non-compliance in releasing the true number of bots on the platform. This reluctance was further amplified by Zatko, who came out with other explosive claims.
Elon Musk delayed acquisition deal citing third world war: Twitter
William Savitt, attorney of Twitter, recently claimed that Musk attempted to delay the multi-billion dollar acquisition citing a possibility of World War 3. “Let’s slow down for just a few days. Putin’s speech tomorrow (May 9) is really important. It won’t make sense to buy Twitter if we are heading into World War 3,” Musk said in a text message dated May 8 to a banker investment group Morgan Stanley, as per Twitter’s attorney.
Savitt had even alleged that Musk is looking for any means to get out of the agreement and that his early comments about bots and fake accounts were just a cover for doing so.
