The American stock market watchdog SEC wants a corporate lawyer to continue to pre-approve social media messages from Elon Musk about Tesla. The approval was part of an earlier settlement between Musk and Tesla and the SEC. But Tesla’s CEO went to the US Supreme Court in December to put an end to that part, because he believes it goes against his right to free speech.
The SEC now wants the Supreme Court to reject his appeal and not go to trial.
“This court has consistently ruled that parties can even waive fundamental constitutional rights when resolving a dispute,” argues a representative of the regulator.
The settlement with the SEC has to do with striking messages from Musk on X, which now belongs to the billionaire. For example, in 2018, Musk claimed on what was then Twitter that Tesla was being taken private and that the financing for this had been completed.
The SEC found that he had misled investors. Musk and Tesla then reached a settlement with the stock exchange watchdog totaling $40 million. He also had to resign from his position as head of Tesla for three years.
