Alex Bruno
The effort by billionaire Elon Musk to scuttle his purchase of Twitter seemed to gratify former president Donald Trump, who used the episode to promote his own competing social media platform. Trump said on Truth Social on Friday, the social media platform operated by Trump Media and Technology Group, “THE TWITTER DEAL IS DEAD, LONG LIVE THE ‘TRUTH’” (TMTG).
After the events of January 6, 2021, the former president’s Twitter account was disabled permanently. He has been marketing his website as a substitute for Twitter for his fans. Musk promised in May that if he acquired Twitter, he would lift Trump’s ban, but it is now unknown if Musk will be forced to pay the $44 billion agreed-upon price.
The wealthiest man in the world stated he was pulling out of the agreement because Twitter did not provide him enough details regarding phony or spam accounts, but Twitter plans to take the case to court. In a letter on the termination of the agreement and the bogus accounts, Musk’s lawyer Mike Ringler said, “Twitter has failed or refused to deliver this information.”
The letter said that Twitter had “at times disregarded Mr. Musk’s demands, at times rejected them for reasons that seemed unjustifiable, and at times pretended to comply while providing Mr. Musk with inaccurate or incomplete information.”
Twitter’s board chair, Bret Taylor, tweeted that the firm is “committed to completing the deal “on the price and conditions agreed upon” with Musk, and they also said that they intend to “pursue legal action to enforce the merger agreement. In the Delaware Court of Chancery, we are sure we will win.”
The Court of Chancery for the state of Delaware, where Twitter is incorporated, often hears cases of this kind. A $1 billion penalty is also included in the agreement between Musk and Twitter for any contract violations. Musk said that he would overturn Trump’s Twitter ban in May at The Financial Times Future of the Car meeting, calling it “morally incorrect and flat-out dumb.”
Musk added, “I would lift the indefinite restriction, but I don’t yet control Twitter, so this is not a thing that would absolutely happen. Trump has previously said that even if his ban were removed, he would not use Twitter again.
Separately, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and a federal grand jury in Manhattan sent subpoenas to Trump Media and Technology Group in late June. The subpoenas seem to be connected to a combination that Trump Media and Technology and Digital World Acquisitions Corp. are considering. Truth Social vehemently refuted Friday media stories that claimed Trump had resigned from the TMTG board weeks before subpoenas were issued.
Source: Newsweek
