Elon Musk’s private messages could once again land him in hot water in his legal battle with Twitter. Lawyers for both sides battled again in the Delaware Court of Chancery ahead of a trial in October that will determine the fate of the deal.
Among the issues raised during the more than three-hour hearing was Musk’s use of the encrypted messaging app Signal. Twitter lawyers say Musk withheld messages sent through the app, citing a screenshot of an exchange between Musk and Jared Birchall, the head of Musk’s family office.
According to Twitter lawyers, the message referenced Morgan Stanley and Marc Andreesen as well as “a conversation about EU regulatory approval” of Musk’s deal with Twitter. Lawyers for Twitter said they uncovered a screenshot of the exchange after Musk and Birchall denied using Signal to talk about the deal. The screenshot showed that the post was set to be deleted automatically.
Twitter lawyers also cited “a missing text message” between Musk and the chairman of Oracle, who was to be a co-investor in the Twitter deal. Musk and Ellison were texting the morning before Musk that the Twitter deal was “temporarily suspended.” The meaning of the texts is unclear, but Twitter lawyers noted that Musk wrote to Ellison telling him “interesting times” before arranging a phone call with him.
Twitter lawyers are asking the judge handling the case, Kathaleen St. J. McCormick, to sanction Musk for his side’s handling of his posts. “We believe the time has come for the court to impose a severe penalty,” Twitter’s attorneys said during the hearing.
Musk’s team tried to downplay the Tesla CEO’s use of Signal. “There’s actually no evidence that we destroyed any evidence,” one of Musk’s attorneys replied. “Signal, you know, looks like it’s a nefarious device,” she said. “In fact, Twitter executives have testified that a number of them are actually using Signal messaging.”
Musk’s attorneys cited the existence of Signal messages between Jack Dorsey and Chairman of the Board Bret Taylor, and noted that current CEO Parag Agrawal also delivered Signal messages. “Signal is not an exotic mechanism, it’s very common in Silicon Valley to use this platform,” she said.
Notably, the latest hearing isn’t the first time Twitter lawyers have used Musk’s private messages obtained through the legal discovery process in their attempt to enforce the original terms of the deal with Musk. Twitter lawyers previously called off a text message between Musk and one of his Morgan Stanley bankers in which he cited concerns as a reason to slow his negotiations with Twitter.
McCormick is expected to rule on Twitter’s motion to sanction Musk in the coming days. A five-day trial that will determine the fate of the deal is scheduled for .
All products recommended by Engadget are selected by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you purchase something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. All prices correct at time of publication.
