U.S. securities regulators on Tuesday said they have authority to subpoena Tesla CEO Elon Musk about his tweets and urged a federal judge not to let the executive get away with tweeting with abandon.
Musk has called the actions of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which in 2018 required Musk to get pre-approval for certain Tesla-related public communications, i.e. wild tweets that could affect stock price and shareholder value, “harassment” and “unjustified action.”
Musk had agreed to settle with the SEC back then, but last year came under fire again when he asked his followers on Twitter if he should sell 10% of his stake in Tesla, resulting in Tesla’s shares decreasing sharply. Musk has since sold around $16 billion worth of stock. Shortly thereafter, in November, the SEC issued a subpoena to determine if Musk was complying with the previous settlement.
In response to the SEC’s probes, Musk has tried to