Musk's War on Free Speech
Slate News
Slate Podcasts
4.5 • 6K Ratings
🗓️ 10 December 2023
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Elon Musk is suing Media Matters for reporting that advertisers’ content was showing up right next to posts from newly reinstated Nazis on X, something X’s CEO said was impossible. Media Matters is based in D.C, and X is headquartered in California - so why did Musk choose to file the suit in Texas?
Guest: Liz Dye, columnist at Above the Law, Substacks as Law and Chaos Pod, co-hosts the podcast Opening Arguments.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Liz why don't you go ahead and just introduce yourself say who you are and what you do? |
| 0:10.0 | Hi I'm Liz Die I am a columnist at Above the Law. I write the Substack Law and Chaos |
| 0:16.0 | Pod and I am a co-host of the Opening Arguments Podcast. |
| 0:21.3 | Liz is also a lawyer herself, though she doesn't practice anymore. |
| 0:27.0 | I wanted to bring her on the show to talk about lawsuits, specifically Elon Musk and lawsuits. |
| 0:33.8 | Because this year, he's been embroiled in a lot. |
| 0:37.0 | Sued by former Twitter employees, or people who say they've been defamed on Twitter, |
| 0:42.2 | now X, |
| 0:43.6 | plus ongoing disputes with the Securities and Exchange Commission |
| 0:46.4 | and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. |
| 0:49.4 | And of course, Musk has filed his own suits, |
| 0:52.2 | something that began even before he actually ran X. |
| 0:56.0 | Well, so he walked in the door after being forced to buy Twitter against his will. |
| 1:01.0 | He offered 5420, which was like the world's most expensive weed joke and then he |
| 1:06.2 | tried to back out of the deal and Twitter's board couldn't let him back out of the deal That would be a breach of fiduciary duty |
| 1:13.5 | to reject an offer for the shares |
| 1:16.0 | was just like 30% above what they were trading at. |
| 1:18.4 | They had no choice but to sue him |
| 1:20.4 | to make him go through with his offer and they hired this white shoe law firm named |
| 1:25.8 | Wachtell Lipton and Wachtell Lipton did in fact force Musk to go through with the |
| 1:31.1 | deal and when he was forced to do it and got in control after he wandered in with that |
| 1:36.7 | ridiculous kitchen sink he turned around and sued Wachtell-Lipton to try and recoup the fees that it had gotten by forcing him to do what he said he would by forcing him to live up to his legal obligations. |
... |
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