Judge denies Elon Musk’s request to delay the Twitter trial

 

Twitter vs Elon Musk row is taking different twists and turns. A judge in the Delaware court has reportedly denied Musk’s attempt to push back the October trial over his abortive Twitter acquisition. However, the court has permitted him to incorporate claims made by former Twitter security chief Peiter “Mudge” Zatko into his case.

Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick of Delaware’s Court of Chancery said, “I am convinced that even four weeks’ delay would risk further harm to Twitter.”

Meanwhile, Twitter accused Musk of trying to drag out the trial and “sow chaos” with more document requests over his abortive Twitter acquisition.

On Tuesday, Musk‘s lawyers argued in the court about getting less time for investigations and demanded delaying the five-day trial, currently scheduled to begin on October 17. Musk’s legal team said that the billionaire needed time to investigate allegations that Twitter had misrepresented its data security.

Zatko filed his 86-page redacted report to the Securities and Exchange Commission in July. In the report, Zatko claimed that Twitter security was in a disorganised state in 2021. He also said in a complaint to regulators that the social media company falsely represented that it had a solid data security plan. Last month, whistleblower allegations became public.

In April, Musk made a hostile bid to take over Twitter for a $44 billion deal. Later on, Musk said to not continue the deal. Musk said he terminated the $44 billion Twitter takeover deal because of scepticism over Twitter's spam accounts tally. Twitter sued Musk to hold him to his April agreement to buy the social media giant for $54.20 per share.

In August, the social media giant said in a court filing that Musk offered no assurance to the company that the trial would be completed in five days, as ordered by the judge, Kathaleen McCormick of the Delaware Court of Chancery.