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Tesla's CEO Elon Musk wins 'misleading tweets' lawsuit
CGTN
Elon Musk leaves federal court in San Francisco, California, the U.S., Feb 3, 2023. /CFP
Elon Musk leaves federal court in San Francisco, California, the U.S., Feb 3, 2023. /CFP

Elon Musk leaves federal court in San Francisco, California, the U.S., Feb 3, 2023. /CFP

Tesla's CEO Elon Musk won a U.S. jury ruling that he and his company could not be held liable for misleading investors over information posted on Twitter.

Musk tweeted in 2018 that he had raised money to take the company private, but a subsequent acquisition never happened. The Tesla shareholders who sued Musk had sought billions of dollars in damages. A San Francisco jury took just two hours to deliberate unanimously.

Musk ultimately abandoned his effort to take Tesla private, but told jurors early in the three-week trial that he had believed what he wrote in tweets.

Musk himself thanked the jury on Twitter. "Thank goodness, the wisdom of the people has prevailed," he wrote.

He fought hard against accusations that he had not told the truth, with his lawyer, Alex Spiro, telling the jury that the "funding secured" tweet was only technically inaccurate.

Many analysts said Musk, who has tweeted more than 22,000 times and has about 128 million Twitter followers, has no reason to slow down now in taking his views to Twitter.

(With input from Reuters)

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