WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday rejected tech billionaire and Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s attempt to challenge the terms of a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission that required a lawyer to review some of his social media posts.
The judges rejected Musk’s appeal of a ruling in favor of the government agency by the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in New York.
Musk complained that the SEC placed illegal conditions on his ability to comment online about Tesla-related matters, the so-called “Twitter sitter” provision.
He has long been an avid user of Twitter, and now X. Musk bought the social media company in 2022.
The SEC cracked down on Musk in 2018 after he posted tweets saying he was getting financing to take Tesla private. shock to the market and initially drove the company’s stock higher. The agency said the tweets were “materially false and misleading” in violation of securities law.
Musk has agreed to settle a civil securities lawsuit filed by the SEC. As part of that deal, he signed a social media clause.
In a separate civil case, a jury last year found that Musk is not responsible to deceive investors.
Now Musk says the restrictions on his speech are unconstitutional and says he was effectively forced to agree to them. His lawyers say said in court filings that the SEC has waged an “ongoing campaign” against Musk.
The provision “restricts Mr. Musk’s speech, even if truthful and accurate. It applies to speech that is not covered by securities laws and has nothing to do with the conduct that is the basis of the SEC’s civil action against Mr. Musk,” the lawyers added.
The SEC responded in court filings that Musk waived his right to make the argument when he signed the deal.
Lower courts agreed in dismissing Musk’s lawsuit.
Laura Kolodny, CNBC contributed.