Society

Buzz Kill: Critics Shrug as Musk Wins Major Victory in Court

For months, media has been relishing the investor lawsuit against Elon Musk, who became persona non grata when he moved to restore free speech protections on Twitter. Coverage spoke of Musk losing billions in the lawsuit while others speculated that Musk might be “setting himself up to lose Tesla.” Not yet. Not only are stock prices up for Tesla, but Musk just won a unanimous verdict in the investor trial. The reaction to the trial has been a shrug from critics as they continue to try to hammer Musk into submission. It does not appear to be working.

A jury found Elon Musk not liable for losses of investors due to a series of tweets saying he had “secured” funding to take the electric car maker private. They deliberated for less than two hours.

Musk personally testified at the trial and noted that he was relying on a handshake agreement in 2018 with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.

The verdict is a buzz kill for the alliance of media, political, and business interests against Musk. Critics of his effort to restore free speech protections on Twitter have pressured advertisers while celebrities have publicly renounced their own Teslas. The very thought of allowing opposing views on issues from Covid to climate change to elections appears intolerable for many in politics and the media.

The public itself, however, has consistently supported the effort to restore the protections and Twitter has experienced a sharp increase in users. That success, however, has only led figures like Hillary Clinton to call on foreign governments to censor fellow citizens.

This unhinged campaign against Musk is being led by the same anti-free speech figures that long supported censorship. That is precisely why Musk may be the only person who could have fought this fight. While these figures and companies have a long history of forcing others into compliance, Musk has proven the immovable object in the face of this seemingly irresistible force.

56 thoughts on “Buzz Kill: Critics Shrug as Musk Wins Major Victory in Court”

  1. “From my reading neither agency told Twitter any *specific person* they wanted silenced.” (Emphasis added)

    This is a good example of why it is nearly impossible to have an honest debate with the Left. They lie by manipulating language.

    The real issue, of course, is the dissenting *ideas* and *opinions” (and thus any “specific person” who held them) that those government agents sought to ban.

  2. Jonathan: Elon Musk’s victory in the Tesla shareholder proves one thing. He can get a fair trial in a bastion of liberalism in the City by the Bay–even though Musk laid off over a 1,000 Twitter workers and a lot of people in SF are not happy with Musk. Shows jurors in SF can be fair and impartial. But Musk had a different perception. Less than two weeks before the trial was to start Musk’s attorneys filed for a change of venue. They wanted the trial moved to Austin, Texas where Tesla is headquartered. In a court filing they claimed their client could not get a fair trial in SF because “local media have saturated this district with biased and negative stories about Mr. Musk”. The judge denied the request and the jurors proved Musk wrong. But now Musk will gloat on Twitter about how he defeated the odds.

    But this is not the time to gloat. Musk’s victory may be short lived. He faces huge problems in making Twitter profitable. SF is making more problems for Musk. His landlord is suing him for unpaid rent on the Twitter HQ on Market St. Same thing in London where the landlord is also suing Musk for unpaid rent. What are we to think of a deadbeat billionaire who won’t even pay the rent?

    Back in SF the building inspection department is telling Musk he musk properly designate the sleeping quarters at the HQ or re-convert them back to offices. Musk thinks his workers should be required to sleep in place at work. No time to go home at night to be with the wife and kids. You’re either “dedicated” to Musk’s conception of work or you can seek work elsewhere. 60 hour weeks are the new normal at Twitter–and at the same pay. It’s “Back to the Future” when the average workweek was 61 hours. That was in 1870. It’s no wonder the residents of SF, whose ancestors fought and won the 40 hr workweek, would be happy if Musk moved the Twitter HQ to Texas where “business friendly” Gov. Abbott will welcome him with open arms. Musk’s landlord in SF would also be happy to finally get a tenant who pays the rent on time.

    Now you claim, citing a Fox report, that there has been a “sharp increase” in Twitter users–237.8 million users in the second quarter. Not exactly something to crow about since Twitter had 396.5 active users in 2021–the year before Musk took over. And the most active daily users– public personalities, media figures, the influencers of public opinion–they are leaving Twitter. And who is replacing them? If Donald Trump goes back on Twitter it will mostly be conspiracies and lots of mis and disinformation. Interest is sports, actual news and entertainment is declining on Twitter. And Twitter is one of the few media platforms that permits nudity. The company says this accounts for 13% of Twitter. Males with such interests are flocking to Twitter. That’s probably why major advertisers, one source of income Musk desperately needs, are refusing to go back on Twitter.

    Say what you will, Musk is turning Twitter into a platform mainly of his own views and those that support him. White nationalists and racists have found a home on Musk’s Twitter. It will soon resemble Trump’s Truth Social. It’s sad you would endorse the current direction of Twitter.

    1. Hey Dennis McIntyre, your just angry that twitter will no longer censor people who you do not agree with. Yours is a typical totalitarian response. You have basically told us that you and your totalitarian friends want Twitter to fail. You were very happy when your friends at the FBI and the CIA could tell Twitter who should be silenced. What other reason could there be than your desire to shut other people up? I am glad that you are so transparent in your desire. It makes your identification much easier.

      1. The hypocrisy of dennis is legion…laughably so !. Musk simply wins on the merits. And dennis has to go to extremes to say that lieberal bastion is so good at doling out justice…… a good laugh had by all.

      2. Thinkitthrough: Why is it that people with little of substance to say start with “Hey” ? Hey, with a different spelling , is what comes out of your mouth every day on this blog after it has gone through the digestive process! But I digress. So you think my “totalitarian friends want Twitter to fail”? Where have I have ever said that? Except for my wife I don’t have any “totalitarian friends” and I don’t care whether Twitter prospers or fails. You also falsely claim “you were very happy when your friends at the FBI and CIA could tell Twitter who should be silenced”. For starters, I don’t have any “friends” at either the FBI or CIA. Second, and I know this would difficult for you to to do because it would require some research, what evidence do you have that either of those agencies told Twitter who to be “silenced”? Give me the names of those they had silenced. Can you back up your claim with any facts? From my reading neither agency told Twitter any specific person they wanted silenced. Finally, I pride myself on my “transparency”. That’s why I use my real name on this blog. You can’t say the same. You spend your time in the shadows spewing out nonsense and whining about those who disagree with Prof. Turley or you. You need to find a different hobby!

    2. www. statista. com /statistics/970920/monetizable-daily-active-twitter-users-worldwide/

      You might want to rethink your claims on Twitter’s population. The opposite is actually true

    3. Hmm… cherry-picking data much? Ever wonder just how many of those nearly 400m users were bots to begin with?

    5. SF is lucky a business like Twitter even wants to be in their drug infested dirty and vacant downtown. SF is destroyed and Twitter should move.

  3. More of Turley’s pandering to the “Us vs. Them” theme pushed by Fox media. Turley just makes things up–to wit: “For months, media has been relishing the investor lawsuit against Elon Musk, who became persona non grata when he moved to restore free speech protections on Twitter. Coverage spoke of Musk losing billions in the lawsuit while others speculated that Musk might be “setting himself up to lose Tesla.” Turley, real media doesn’t “relish” anything. I’ve never heard NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN MSNBC or PBS speculating about Musk losing money or anything else you claim Just more of the attacks against mainstream media Fox pays you to promote.

    The pig you defend was kicked off of Facebook and Twitter because he violated the terms of service by using these platforms to promote the Big Lie, which led to the insurrection. You know that censorship only applies to governmental entities, not Facebook or Twitter. There was no “restoration of free speech protections” because no such “protections” exist for private companies offering a social media platform. These outfits operate under their “terms of service” agreements with subscribers. Musk allowed the pig back onto Twitter for publicity reasons because he’s also an attention-seeking narcissist.

    2. NUTCHACHACHA,

      Speaking of “pigs,” you’ve been awfully swinish at the welfare trough, shoehorning your porcine maw with a lifetime of copious amounts of affirmative action, etc.

      May we please rid our nation of the entirely unconstitutional “bias and favoritism” yet or do you still require feeding on it at the government teat?

    5. The freedom that FACEBOOK AND TWITTER AROSE IN, THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF LEGISLATION WHEN THOSE ENTITIES WERE GROWING INTO THE PRIMARY SOURCES OF AVAILABLE INFORMATION. THEY BECAME THE LOADED SOURSE OF LIBERAL THEOLOGY ON THE WAY WE OUGHT TO LIVE, MAKING OTHER VOICES IMPOSSIBLE TO HEAR. PUBLIC UTILITIES GET REGULATED TO AVOID MONOPOLIES. SO IT WILL BE WITH THOSE WHO CHOOSE WHAT WE MUST HEAR. AND NOTHING ELSE.

  4. They are absolutely terrified of him because he has more money than they do, and just as good connections. Never in the history of the enlightened West (that would be centuries, folks, not decades) have we seen this type of antagonism against simply saying what you think. I applaud Elon, and I hope plenty more follow because money and power and perceived privilege are all the brain dead elite understand, and in the 21st century, virtually all of them are on what used to be the left. They are running like scared little kids in the face of an open *Twitter*, FFS. Fathom that. The thing that was formerly known for sharing photos of what you had for brunch. And these are the same people that formerly praised Elon to the skies. Trust modern dems and the modern MSM about as far as you could throw them with your pinky finger. It used to be, ‘Don’t trust anyone over 30.’. Now, it’s, ‘Don’t trust anyone under 45.’. Wish we could raise the voting age to that standard.

  5. How many gallons of water does it take to put out a Tesla fire?

    Answer: 6 Thousand Gallons
    ________________________

    “A Tesla Model S ‘spontaneously’ caught fire on a California highway over the weekend, forcing firefighters to use some 6,000 gallons of water to extinguish the flames, authorities said. Sacramento Metro Fire reported that the electric vehicle burst into flames after 4 p.m. Saturday while traveling eastbound at freeway speeds on Highway 50 in the area of Rancho Cordova. According to officials, ‘nothing unusual’ happened before the Tesla’s battery compartment ‘spontaneously caught fire.'”

    – Snejana Farberov, St. John’s/Columbia Univ.

  7. Is Elon censoring liberal lefties? I hope not. I just want free speech for everyone.

  10. A Person of Peach-colored African-American 1. Critics and probable Diversitists, perhaps rabid, Anticons, 0.

  11. Is it true that Adam Schiff was in Moscow and standing atop a Tesla Model X and urinating on the bonnet?

    1. Probable, no. Plausible, of course. Impeach the “person of white-adjacent (i.e. not albino)”, today, tomorrow, and in progress.

    1. I certainly do. Since he’s bought Twitter, it’s a real “open” forum. The haters are still there, but they have free rein. That’s great because now the more conservative & alternate voices are also heard. Back in the old days (60’s) when the term “liberal” truly did describe the Democratic Party…they stood for no war, social justice, anti Big Brother, anti censorship, etc. More of a live & let live way of life. There has been a cosmic shift…they have embraced socialism/communism were BIG GOVERNMENT & anyone that disagrees should be censored, banned, exterminated.

    2. certainly do. Since he’s bought Twitter, it’s a real “open” forum. The haters are still there, but they have free rein. That’s great because now the more conservative & alternate voices are also heard. Back in the old days (60’s) when the term “liberal” truly did describe the Democratic Party…they stood for no war, social justice, anti Big Brother, anti censorship, etc. More of a live & let live way of life. There has been a cosmic shift…they have embraced socialism/communism were BIG GOVERNMENT & anyone that disagrees should be censored, banned, exterminated.

  13. Dear Prof Turley,

    Free speech ain’t cheap. Elon, bless his heart, paid $44 billion to expose (see @ Twitter Files) Twitter as a wholly owned subsidiary of the United States government. That’s bad business, on both accounts.

    Somewhere out in space a red Telsa 3 is ‘boldly going where no man has gone before.’ The final frontier.

    *back on earth, meanwhile, China is attacking us with balloons.. . and it won’t be long before they send in the clowns.

  14. Professor Turley, Do you have any updated information on Hillary Clinton’s censorship efforts — you keep linking back to your November 2 post?

      1. To elaborate on my question directed at JT, he keeps mentioning Hillary as promoting censorship and I am not aware of any activities in the last few months where she has done so. Accordingly, depending on the facts, JT should either give an updated link to censorship activities or perhaps mention someone else who has been active recently.

        1. It seems you recognize that Hillary Clinton engaged in supporting censorship. I don’t think much more need to be said, do you?

          “mention someone else who has been active recently.”

          That is a broad request, especially since the entire left has been engaged in the promotion of censorship or assisting it. Thanks for bringing it up. Censorship is an important topic and that is why Elon Musk remains prominent in the news. Musk has done a service for the nation, don’t you agree?

        2. THAT IS LIKE SAYING THERE IS NO EVIDENCE OF VOTING FRAUD. IT MAY NEVER BE FOUND BUT THAT IS NO PROOF THAT IT WAS’T THERE. SHE MAY HAVE BEE WORKING SILENTLY OR THROUGH OTHERS.

    3. Do you have a credible reason to believe that Hillary Clinton no longer wants foreign governments to censor American citizens? If not, then Turley is performing a valuable public service. People need to know that she is abusing whatever influence she has for evil purposes.

  15. This is the same play book that was and is being used against the chief heretic Trump. The process is the punishment. The verdict is only a minor setback. Double and triple jeopardy is a norm that only a law professor can love. Yes, yes different courts. Yes, yes slightly different issues – wink, wink. This will continue until the courts impose some form of punishment on people and groups who file obviously political and frivolous lawsuits – not likely, I know. How many swings at your political enemies should one get? Trump and Musk can afford a vigorous defense. The average baker cannot.

    1. Timothy Hargadon: Nice Comment. Maybe the baker should create and sell cookies in the shape of a Tesla vehicle. He might sell out in one day and make enough to find a good deal on one of those Teslas “publicly renounced” by celebrities.

    2. The average baker cannot.

      The Colorado baker, Jack Phillips, is a fool for a businessman. There were so many ways to address the gays / lesbians who were trying to brow beat him, self-righteous prigs that they are, and then the Trans. Forget the canard that Phillips is a man of deep Christian Faith. Jim and Tammy Faye Baker, Jimmy Swaggart, former Liberty University president, Jerry “bang my wife while I watch” Falwell Jr all said likewise.

      He could have met with the prospective clients and gotten to know them so as to understand what really drove them as broken people, then met that broken need, e.g. befriend them, accompany them, break bread with them and their peers, evangelize, convert, etc.

      He could have grown his business by baking whatever they desired, beat them at their game, ask for a list of their friends, target them for promotional purposes, subsequently peel off the good natured gays and lesbians to his side, earn their business, then watch his business mushroom. That would have been the smartest tact.

      He could have baked a cake that was ugly, tasted like dirt, and present them their finished order, then ask them what their next order would be

      He could have done dozens of things to either win the audience and thereby fragment them, bake exactly what they requested just as he would have for gluttonous, slothful, prideful, greedy, angry, divorced customers, or he could have taken their money and bake a mediocre product thus comply with their request at their expense.

      But he decided to be a showboat. He won no converts to the Faith, none of the lost were saved, he preached to the choir/the won, failed miserably at evangelization, and created great distress for himself and others. The guy is a millstone, just like King Henry VIII was who became head of the Church of England for decapitating Thomas More

      At least Jimmy Falwell Jr made 6 figures as a Falwell icon and enjoyed watching his wife with the pool boy. Falwell Jr is a shallow pig. Phillips is just shallow.

      1. “The Colorado baker, Jack Phillips, is a fool for a businessman. “

        How can you say that? He wasn’t acting as a businessman. Yes, he could have acted differently, but HE ACTED. How many people place their ‘lives’ at stake for their personal principles? If one wants to characterize his actions, one should not call him a fool, but recognize him as one of the few who will stand up for what they believe. Your gripe with Phillips is he didn’t do your bidding.

        1. I agree, Estovir has completely missed the point in his venal understanding of the world. That is sad but does not make a sound argument for the topic at hand, which is individual principles and a life well led. He is conflating unbridled capitalism with moral behavior and making a mess of it.

        3. FROM THE HORSE’S MOUTH TO AMERICANS’ EARS – PAY ATTENTION AND END THE ARGUMENT

          “CLAIM AND EXERCISE”

          “IN EXCLUSION OF EVERY OTHER INDIVIDUAL”
          _________________________________________

          “[Private property is] that dominion which one man claims and exercises over the external things of the world, in exclusion of every other individual.”

          – James Madison
          ______________

          DON’T EXPECT FOREIGNERS TO GRASP.

          EXPECT THEIR “DISCORDANT INTERMIXTURE…TO HAVE AN INJURIOUS TENDENCY.”

          “The influx of foreigners must, therefore, tend to produce a heterogeneous compound; to change and corrupt the national spirit; to complicate and confound public opinion; to introduce foreign propensities. In the composition of society, the harmony of the ingredients is all-important, and whatever tends to a discordant intermixture must have an injurious tendency.”

          – Alexander Hamilton

      2. “He could have grown his business by baking whatever they desired . . .”

        And the only loss would have been his soul.

      3. I’ve often thought that if Philips had more than half a brain, he could have easily kept the rabble at bay by posting photos of both Reagan and Trump in his shop, accompanied by a small sign at his cash register that might read “profits from the sale of lgbtq themed products will be donated to the local Republican Party and/or Family Research Council”. Cheers!

        1. I would have baked a cake for them- it wouldn’t have been something they wanted- but I would make them sign a cost+ agreement= I will bake your cake over and over, but you will pay me full price everytime. Enjoy eating that cake that maybe I urinated in, maybe a little dog feces for good measure…those “secret” ingredients.

          1. Embeded in your post is an important legal point.

            You can not by law successfully impose Positive Duties on people.

            They are always able to undermine the law and so long as they are silent about how they are doing that – they will not get caught.

            We do not want laws that push people to figure out how to secretly disobey them.

            That is NOT the rule of law.

            Lawmakers are obligated to ONLY make laws that the overwhelming majority of people will follow
            and that those who do not can be caufht and punished.

        2. I’ve often thought that if Philips had more than half a brain, he could have easily kept the rabble at bay by posting photos of both Reagan and Trump in his shop, accompanied by a small sign at his cash register that might read “profits from the sale of lgbtq themed products will be donated to the local Republican Party and/or Family Research Council”. Cheers!

          Brilliant

          See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves
          – Gospel of St Matthew 10:16

          Alas, Phillips is not too bright nor a convincing Christian, just a chest beating “conservative”

          OTOH, if he really does follow Christian rubrics, unlikely that that is, then that means he would not bake a cake for those who engage in the cardinal sins of pride, gluttony, sloth, anger, envy, greed and lust, i.e. no one commenting in this forum, including me, would get a cake from Phillips.

  16. Jonathan, can you elaborate a bit on the actual case against Musk and his successful defense?

  18. ELON WINS AGAIN, AGAIN, AGAIN, the Dems and Left Wing nuts keep trying and they keep losing. Musk is not afraid of them and he will fight and the Left and others can’t stand this, someone who Refuses to Melt and do what they say, that is why they hate Musk and Trump.But, they will continue to go after Musk and Musk will continue to Win, with a Smile.

  19. Lefties lying again.

    No integrity, no shame.

    But it is the readers who keep coming back for more lies that are the stupid ones.

    They like being lied to.

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