Jury Finds Musk Liable in Twitter Lawsuit

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — A federal jury has found Elon Musk liable for misleading Twitter investors in the months leading up to his 2022 takeover of the social media company. Coverage of the verdict and trial testimony was reported by CBS News, OPB, Post-Gazette, Hindustan Times, WHTC, and PBS NewsHour.

Each of the bullet points immediately below have been confirmed by at least four of the six respected sources we curated on this story.

• A nine-person federal jury in San Francisco found Musk liable for misleading investors through two tweets posted in 2022, including one stating the Twitter deal was “temporarily on hold” pending verification related to spam and fake accounts.
• The jury, which deliberated for approximately four days following a trial that began March 2, absolved Musk of allegations that he engaged in an intentional “scheme” to defraud investors or that comments made on a podcast were misleading.
• Lawyers for the plaintiffs estimate damages will total between two and three billion dollars, representing losses sustained by shareholders who sold their stock at artificially depressed prices between 05/13/2022 and 10/04/2022.
• Musk, whose net worth is estimated at approximately eight hundred fourteen billion dollars with much of it tied to his Tesla stake, completed the forty-four billion dollar Twitter acquisition in October 2022 after initially attempting to withdraw from the deal.
• The central dispute centered on Musk’s claims that Twitter underreported the prevalence of bot accounts, with Musk testifying that the actual percentage was significantly higher than the figure disclosed in company regulatory filings.
• During the trial, former Twitter executives including CEO Parag Agrawal and CFO Ned Segal testified alongside Musk, who took the stand for more than a day to defend his actions and statements.

Additional Details Reported

The jury awarded shareholders between approximately three and eight dollars per share per day as damages, though final calculations remain pending. The verdict marks a significant moment in securities litigation involving high-profile technology executives and their use of social media to communicate about corporate transactions.

Plaintiffs’ attorney Joseph Cotchett characterized the verdict as sending “a strong message that just because you’re a rich and powerful person, you still have to obey the law, and no man is above the law.” Musk’s legal team, which motioned for mistrial multiple times during proceedings citing concerns about public animosity toward Musk in San Francisco, stated they “look forward to vindication on appeal.”

Musk testified during the trial that Twitter’s leadership “lied about the number of bots on the platform and withheld information” about how fake account calculations were performed. He repeatedly characterized the company’s disclosures using an abbreviation for bovine excrement. Twitter shares fell below thirty-three dollars during the period of uncertainty—approximately forty percent below Musk’s original purchase price—before the deal ultimately closed.

This is not the first time Musk has faced litigation over his public statements. In 2023, a different San Francisco jury absolved him of wrongdoing in a case concerning his 2018 tweet about taking Tesla private. Musk is also separately engaged in settlement discussions with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission regarding allegations he delayed disclosure of his initial Twitter stock purchases in 2022.

— With research from CBS News, Oregon Public Broadcasting, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Hindustan Times, WHTC/Reuters, and PBS NewsHour

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