Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

Beijing time on May 16 morning news, According to reports, According to Musk, Tesla in 2018 and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) signed an agreement, Musk on Twitter posts about Tesla, Must be reviewed by lawyers, Commonly known as "Twitter nanny" agreement.

Musk appealed to cancel the clause, but the appeal failed a few days ago.

A federal appeals court on Monday upheld the ruling of a lower court after the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled that the Twitter pre-censorship clause could not be revoked.

In 2018, Musk had a "Tesla privatization storm" on Twitter, posting that he would privatize Tesla for $420 a share (delisting) and that the acquisition funds were available. The SEC launched an investigation into the matter and found that Musk's post was not based on facts. The SEC accused him of misleading investors by publishing false information.

In 2019, Musk, Tesla and the SEC reached a settlement on the charges, with the above-mentioned Twitter posting pretrial clause, but Musk has been unconvinced and continues to fight.

According to court documents, under Twitter's nanny clause, Musk tweets that include information that has a material relationship with Tesla, a publicly traded company, must be reviewed by company lawyers in advance, a restrictive rule that was later broadened to regulate the posting of some Tesla executives.

In February, Musk's lawyer Alex Shapiro told the court that the SEC's prior review clause violated the U.S. Constitution and violated Musk's right to free speech.

But in Monday's ruling, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Shapiro's claims, saying Musk claimed the SEC used the prior review clause to conduct a malicious and harassing investigation of his comments, but the appeals court found no evidence to support Musk's claims.

The appeals court said that since 2018, the SEC has investigated only three Twitter posts by Musk: one involving "privatizing Tesla funds," another misdescribing Tesla's annual production of electric cars, and a third in which Musk conducted an online poll about whether he should sell 10% of his Tesla shares.

The appeals court said the SEC's investigation into the posts was not malicious and that Musk's posts, in turn, violated a prior review agreement he signed with the SEC.

Musk's lawyers also filed a request under a U.S. law that allows parties to request a retrial if the circumstances of a case change significantly or U.S. law changes, arguing that the SEC enforced the terms of the agreement in a way that made Musk's compliance with the prior review agreement cumbersome.

The Court of Appeal also rejected this argument. According to the court, Musk only needs to consult with Tesla's legal director or an in-house securities lawyer before posting, according to the agreement.

Musk's Twitter activity has long attracted high attention from SEC and Tesla shareholders. For example, Musk was sued by Tesla shareholders for "securities fraud" because of the privatization tweet, but in February, the court ruled Musk innocent.

On Twitter, Musk has also been sued for his high-profile support of the virtual currency "Dogecoin," a case that is still ongoing.

The appeals court also said that if Musk did not want the SEC to interfere with his power to "post freely without review," he should have presented his opinion and signed another settlement agreement when facing SEC securities fraud charges, but Musk did not do so.

The court said Musk made his own choice about reviewing posts in advance, and his lawyers should not ask the court for a new ruling because he reneged today.

Regarding the appeal court judgment, Shapiro lawyer said that the lawyer team will conduct a detailed evaluation and continue to let the American society pay attention to the issue of government restrictions on speech.

Welcome to subscribe "Shulou Technology Information " to get latest news, interesting things and hot topics in the IT industry, and controls the hottest and latest Internet news, technology news and IT industry trends.