American billionaire Elon Musk, who is being sued by Twitter after he backed out of his buyout deal with the tech company, told the court that the microblogging platform jeopardised its third largest market by failing to disclose its "risky" suit against the Indian government and disobeying its laws.
Twitter should follow the local laws in India, Musk said in a countersuit in the Delaware court, as per his affidavit being circulated on social media.
In a countersuit in a Delaware court which was filed under seal last Friday and made public Thursday, Musk also claimed that he was "hoodwinked" into signing the deal to buy the San Francisco-based social media company.
Musk said that Twitter should follow the local law in India, according to the court documents. Snapshots of the court documents were seen circulating on Twitter posted by New York Times Tech Reporter Kate Conger @kateconger.
"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 a portion of the legal filings in Twitter Vs Musk lawsuit, as posted by New York Times tech reporter Kate Conger in a series of tweets.
To Elon Musk's averments in the court filings, Twitter responded that it "respectfully refers the Court for their complete and accurate contents. Twitter lacks knowledge or information sufficient to form a belief as to the truth of the allegations," and said it "therefore denies them on that basis."Referring to a petition filed in Karnataka High Court in July, Musk also objected to Twitter's failure to disclose litigation against the Indian government.
"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," the company said in its response.Twitter, through its lawyer at the Karnataka High Court, said that their India business would close if they complied with Indian government orders to block content that competent authorities had deemed illegal. The High Court had issued notices to the Centre and adjourned the hearing for August 25th.
The microblogging website and the world's richest man are now heading to trial on October 17 after Musk sought to abandon his deal to acquire Twitter over what he says is a misrepresentation of fake accounts on the site.Twitter is trying to compel Musk to follow through on the deal while accusing him of sabotaging it because it no longer served his interests.Earlier in April, Musk reached an acquisition agreement with Twitter at USD 54.20 per share in a transaction valued at approximately USD 44 billion.
Elon Musk said that if Twitter Inc. could provide its method of sampling 100 accounts and how it confirmed that the accounts are real, his $44 billion deal to buy the company should proceed on original terms.
"If Twitter simply provides their method of sampling 100 accounts and how they’re confirmed to be real, the deal should proceed on original terms. However, if it turns out that their SEC filings are materially false, then it should not," Musk tweeted on 6 August.
Twitter on Thursday dismissed Musk's claims that he was hoodwinked into signing the deal to buy the social media company, saying that it was "implausible and contrary to fact".
Musk had said that Twitter misrepresented the size of its user base to distort its value and then “played a months-long game of hide-and-seek" as he sought more information to complete the $44 billion purchase of the company.
In a reply filed on Thursday in Delaware Chancery Court, Twitter called Musk's reasoning “a story, imagined in an effort to escape a merger agreement that Musk no longer found attractive.
The counterclaims are a made-for-litigation tale that is contradicted by the evidence and common sense, Twitter's response said.Musk invents representations Twitter never made and then tries to wield, selectively, the extensive confidential data Twitter provided him to conjure a breach of those purported representations
Musk made the claims in a countersuit filed under seal last Friday, which was made public on Thursday.
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