Elon Musk makes court appeal to end the need for a ‘Twitter sitter’

Elon Musk asked a federal appeals court to throw out the deal he made with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in 2018 requiring a Tesla lawyer to screen all his company-related tweets, calling it an illegal effort to muzzle him.

Mr Musk, Tesla’s chief executive, has claimed without success that the SEC is harassing him and that the agreement violates his free-speech rights.

US district judge Lewis Liman in April refused to release him from the deal and end the requirement for a “Twitter sitter”.

Mr Liman said Mr Musk was “simply bemoaning that he felt like he had to agree to it at the time” and now “wishes that he had not".

“The pre-approval provision is a classic prior restraint that the Constitution forbids: a government-imposed muzzle on Mr Musk’s speech before it is made,” Mr Musk’s lawyers said in papers asking the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan to invalidate the agreement, or at least remove the screening requirement.

“The effect of the provision is to inhibit and chill Mr Musk’s lawful speech.”

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