San Francisco Jury Finds Elon Musk Liable for Misleading Twitter Shareholders in 2022

A federal jury in San Francisco found Elon Musk liable on Friday, March 20, 2026, for intentionally misleading Twitter shareholders during his chaotic $44 billion acquisition of the social media platform in 2022. After two days of deliberations following a three-week civil trial, jurors determined that two tweets Musk published in May 2022 contained false statements that caused a significant drop in Twitter's share price. The jury sided with the plaintiffs — a group of former Twitter investors who argued they had sold shares at deflated prices after relying on Musk's public statements. The verdict represents a rare legal defeat for Musk, a businessman widely known for his ability to emerge from high-profile trials unscathed.

Two May 2022 tweets at the center of the case The lawsuit focused on two specific public statements Musk made in May 2022. On May 13, 2022, Musk tweeted that the Twitter deal was "temporarily on hold" due to concerns about the number of fake accounts and bots on the platform. A few days later, he posted a second tweet suggesting that automated accounts might represent more than 20 percent of Twitter's users — a figure significantly higher than the 5 percent disclosed in the company's regulatory filings. Twitter's stock dropped sharply following the May 13 tweet. The class-action lawsuit alleged that these statements were part of a deliberate effort to pressure Twitter's board into accepting a lower acquisition price, at a time when falling Tesla shares were making the original financing more costly. The jury found the statements intentionally misleading but rejected the broader accusation that Musk had engaged in a deliberate fraudulent maneuver specifically designed to drive down the stock price.

44 (billion USD) — value of Musk's Twitter acquisition deal in 2022

Damages could reach billions, final figure still undetermined The total damages Musk may owe have not yet been finalized, but plaintiffs' lawyers cited by CNBC said the figure could amount to billions of dollars. Jurors calculated that affected shareholders should receive between $3 and $8 per stock per day as compensation. During the trial, Musk testified in person and argued that his tweets were simply him "speaking his mind," and that Twitter executives had misled him about the true number of bots on the platform. The plaintiffs countered that they had relied on his public statements and sold their shares at artificially deflated prices as a result. Musk did not immediately respond to the verdict, according to reporting reviewed by Agence France-Presse, and retains the right to appeal the decision. His fortune was valued at approximately $839 billion at the beginning of March 2026, according to Forbes magazine, making him the wealthiest person in the world.

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A rare defeat for a man once called "Teflon Elon" The verdict is described by French outlet Ouest France, citing AFP, as a rare judicial defeat for Musk, who has earned the informal nickname "Teflon Elon" for his track record of avoiding legal liability. In 2023, a jury at the same San Francisco federal court cleared Musk within hours of similar allegations brought by Tesla shareholders over his 2018 tweet claiming he had "funding secured" to take the electric carmaker private. The Twitter acquisition itself generated multiple legal battles: Musk faced additional shareholder lawsuits over his delay in disclosing his initial stake in the company, and former Twitter executives sued over unpaid severance benefits — claims Musk later settled. After Musk attempted to withdraw from the $44 billion deal, Twitter sued him in Delaware to force him to honor the agreement, and Musk reversed course shortly before that trial was set to begin, paying the original price and subsequently renaming the platform X. Musk is also separately in talks to settle a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission civil lawsuit accusing him of violating federal law by waiting too long to disclose his initial stake in Twitter.

Elon Musk announced his intention to acquire Twitter in April 2022 at a price of $54.20 per share. His subsequent public statements about bot accounts prompted Twitter to sue him in Delaware to compel him to complete the transaction. Musk reversed course and closed the deal at the original price in late 2022, later renaming the platform X. The 2023 San Francisco jury that cleared Musk over his Tesla "funding secured" tweets reached its verdict within hours of deliberation, a result that reinforced his reputation for legal resilience. The current case was brought as a class action by former Twitter investors who argued they suffered financial losses as a direct result of Musk's public statements during the acquisition period.