Musk said that Twitter must follow local laws in India. (FILE)
Washington:
Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who is locked in a legal battle with Twitter over a failed takeover bid that Twitter now intends to force, said the social media giant was putting its third-largest market at risk by not disclosing a “risky” lawsuit against the Indian government. .
In a counterclaim in a Delaware court that was filed under seal last Friday and made public Thursday, Musk claimed he was “obsessed” into signing a deal to buy the San Francisco-based social media company.
Musk said Twitter must follow local laws in India, according to court filings. Images of the court documents were shared on Twitter by New York Times Tech Reporter Kate Conger.
“In 2021, India’s Ministry of Information Technology introduced certain rules that would allow the government to investigate social media posts, request identifying information and prosecute companies that refuse to comply. While Musk is a proponent of free speech, he believes that Twitter Moderation on “heww 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 published in a series of tweets by New York Times tech reporter Kate Conger.
Twitter responded to Elon Musk’s claims in the court filings by saying it “respectfully requests the Court for their full and accurate content. Twitter does not have sufficient knowledge or information to form a belief as to the truth of the allegations” and “therefore rejects them.” based on that.”
Referring to a petition filed in the Karnataka High Court in July, Musk also objected to Twitter’s failure to disclose legal proceedings against the Indian government.
“Twitter says it has challenged certain blocking orders by the Indian government under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, directing Twitter to remove certain content from its platform, including content by politicians, activists and journalists, and that Twitter is legitimate.” the company said in its response.
Twitter, through its lawyer at the Karnataka High Court, said its business in India would be shut down if it followed the Indian government’s directives to block content deemed illegal by authorities. The Supreme Court sent a notice to the Center and adjourned the hearing to August 25.
The microblogging site and the world’s richest man are headed to court on October 17 after Musk wants to back out of his deal to acquire Twitter.
Twitter is trying to force Musk to honor the deal, accusing it of sabotaging the deal because it no longer serves its interests.
In early April, Musk agreed to buy Twitter at $54.20 per share in a deal valued at about $44 billion.
In May, Musk delayed the deal to allow his team to verify Twitter’s claim that fewer than 5 percent of accounts on the platform were bots or spam.
(Other than the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
