Elon Musk claims that the stock price of Tesla was unrelated to his social media posts

Elon Musk acknowledged in his testimony on Friday that he knew he had tweeted significant information about Tesla, the electric vehicle business he owns He refuted claims that the price fluctuations of Teslas stock were caused by his social media posts, though

In federal court in San Francisco, Mr Musk stated, Just because I tweet something, doesnt mean people believe it or act accordingly, adding, The causal relationship is clearly not there simply because of a tweet

After Mr Musk discussed a plan to take the business private in 2018, a lawyer for investors who claim they lost money on Teslas stock questioned Mr Musk about his comments The investors are suing Elon Musk and Tesla for billions in damages

Mr Musk tweeted in 2018 that he was thinking about taking Tesla private at 420 Funds are in place Investor support is confirmed, he continued The only reason this is uncertain is because it depends on a shareholder vote After he made those posts, the price of Teslas stock increased, but it then dropped as the deal stalled

Edward M Chen, the senior district judge in charge of the case, has already declared that Elon Musks tweets about funding secured and his subsequent statement on Twitter were false However, the jury will still need to determine whether or not those claims caused investors to lose money

Mr Musk entered the courtroom in a dark suit and a black surgical mask to find attorneys, reporters, and people who were interested in the case and Mr Musk present Before Mr Musk entered the room, a group of people who appeared to be a part of his security detail whispered to the court officers and stood at the rooms doors

Although Mr Musk acknowledged that the Securities and Exchange Commissions rules applied to his Twitter posts, he claimed he couldnt be as thorough on Twitter as Tesla could be in SEC filings or press releases

“One cannot ignore the character limitation, and everyone on Twitter is aware of the character limitation,” he said, referring to the character limit of tweets

Mr Musk testified for about 30 minutes on Friday afternoon and is expected to return to answer more questions on Monday He nodded to jurors as he left the courtroom

The case will instead be decided by a jury of two women and seven men, one of whom in his jury questionnaire said he had nothing to say about Elon Musk and Tesla and another who referred to Mr Musk as a fast-rising businessman It is anticipated that the trial will last three weeks