Beautiful Virgin Islands

Thursday, Jun 05, 2025

Elon Musk's trove of private text messages is a bad look for him — and another win for Twitter, experts say

Elon Musk's trove of private text messages is a bad look for him — and another win for Twitter, experts say

Hundreds of texts between Elon Musk and big names in media and finance were released on Thursday as a part of the discovery process for Twitter's lawsuit.
A trove of private text messages released Thursday between Elon Musk and big names in media and finance could pose a problem for the billionaire as he heads into a court battle with Twitter, several industry watchers told Insider.

"It's not a good look and likely puts Musk in a weaker legal stance," Wedbush Securities tech analyst Dan Ives said. "This adds more agita to the Musk camp."

The billionaire is set to square off with Twitter in a five-day trial beginning on October 17. The social media company is attempting to force Musk to follow through on his $44 billion purchase offer after he announced plans to back out in July.

The hundreds of texts between Musk and some of Silicon Valley's most powerful players offer fresh insight into Musk's plans for Twitter. The texts also highlight several of Twitter's primary arguments against Musk — pointing to a "weakness" in the billionaire's case, said Matthew Schettenhelm, senior litigation analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence.

Up until recently, Musk's legal team has centered its argument on claims the company intentionally misled Musk and investors as to the number of active users on the platform.

But Musk's private texts appear to tell a story that is "in tension with his lead argument," Schettenhelm told Insider. In a message to Twitter Chairman Bret Taylor on April 9 — the day Musk told the board of his plans to buy Twitter — the billionaire said it would be "hard" to fix the social company and address issues with scam accounts without taking it private.

"Purging fake users will make the numbers look terrible, so restructuring should be done as a private company," he texted Taylor, according to the cache of documents released Thursday.

Erik Gordon, a professor at the University of Michigan's Ross Business School, said Musk "won't win in court with a claim that he was misled by the number of fake users."

Twitter has also argued that Musk might steal its internal data and create a competing company. The billionaire's private texts seem to indicate he was indeed bouncing around plans for creating another social media platform at the same time he was shoring up investors to buy Twitter. In texts to his brother Kimbal from April, Musk shared his idea for a blockchain-based social media platform.

Ann Lipton, a business law professor at Tulane University Law School, said Musk's text about developing a competing platform could also play into Twitter's hands.

"To the extent Musk is armed with confidential internal Twitter data that he could use to harm the company in the future – perhaps by establishing a competitor – that might weigh in favor of granting Twitter specific performance" and forcing him to follow through on the deal, Lipton said.

While the texts show that at one point Musk appeared to be serious about buying Twitter, the messages also show the billionaire was slow to communicate his plans with Taylor and Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal.

Jasmine Enberg, an analyst at research firm Insider Intelligence, said the texts seem to illustrate Musk realized that "transforming Twitter was a bigger undertaking than he initially thought." Insider Intelligence is part of Insider, Inc., Insider's parent company.

Still, Gerard Filitti, senior counsel at The Lawfare Project, an international non-profit legal think tank and litigation fund based in New York City, said it's difficult to understand the true sway of the texts without relevant depositions to fill in the gaps.

"It does not appear that any of them alone is explosive in content," Filitti said. "As with all evidence these messages will be used to tell a story and they will be shaped to whichever side is telling that story."
Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Global News Roundup: From Ukraine's strategic military strikes and Russia's demands and Tensions Escalate in Ukraine, to serious legal issues faced by Britons in Bali and Trump's media criticism, the latest developments highlight a turbulent landscape
Majority of French Voters View Macron's Presidency as a Failure
Hungary Partners with China to Boost Electric Vehicle Production
‘Vibe Coding’ Emerges as the New DIY Trend
AI Pioneer Yoshua Bengio Warns Models Can Deceive Users
Big Four Firms Rush to Create AI Auditing Systems
Musk’s xAI Pursues $113 Billion Valuation in New Share Sale
Walmart Increases Revenue Despite Shrinking Workforce
Hims & Hers Plans UK and EU Launch of Replica Obesity Drugs
Toyota to Acquire Supplier in $33 Billion Buyout
U.S. Reduces Military Presence in Syria
Trump Demands Iran End All Uranium Enrichment in Nuclear Talks
China Accuses US of Violating Trade Truce
Panama Port Owner Balances US-China Pressures
France Implements Nationwide Outdoor Smoking Ban to Protect Children
German Chancellor Merz Keeps Putin Guessing on Missile Strategy
Mandelson Criticizes UK's 'Fetish' for Abandoning EU Regulations
British Fishing Boat Owner Fined €30,000 by French Authorities
Dutch government falls as far-right leader Wilders quits coalition
Harvard Urges US to Unfreeze Funds for Public Health Research
Businessman Mauled by Lion at Luxury Namibian Lodge
Researchers Consider New Destinations Beyond the U.S.
53-Year-Old Doctor Claims Biological Age of 23
Trump Struggles to Secure Trade Deals With China and Europe
Russia to Return 6,000 Corpses Under Ukraine Prisoner Swap Deal
Microsoft Lays Off Hundreds More Amid Restructuring
Harvey Weinstein’s Publicist Embraces Notoriety
Macron and Meloni Seek Unity Despite Tensions
Trump Administration Accused of Obstructing Deportation Cases
Newark Mayor Sues Over Arrest at Immigration Facility
Center-Left Candidate Projected to Win South Korean Presidency
Trump’s Tariffs Predicted to Stall Global Economic Growth
South Korea’s President-Elect Expected to Take Softer Line on Trump and North Korea
Trump’s China Strategy Remains a Geopolitical Puzzle
Ukraine Executes Long-Range Drone Strikes on Russian Airbases
Conservative Karol Nawrocki wins Poland’s presidential election
Study Identifies Potential Radicalization Risk Among Over One Million Muslims in Germany
Good news: Annalena Baerbock Elected President of the UN General Assembly
Apple Appeals EU Law Over User Data Sharing Requirements
South Africa: "First Black Bank" Collapses after Being Looted by Owners
Poland will now withdraw from the EU migration pact after pro-Trump nationalist wins Election
"That's Disgusting, Don’t Say It Again": The Trump Joke That Made the President Boil
Trump Cancels NASA Nominee Over Democratic Donations
Paris Saint-Germain's Greatest Triumph Is Football’s Lowest Point
OnlyFans for Sale: From Lockdown Lifeline to Eight-Billion-Dollar Empire
Mayor’s Security Officer Implicated | Shocking New Details Emerge in NYC Kidnapping Case
Hegseth Warns of Potential Chinese Military Action Against Taiwan
OPEC+ Agrees to Increase Oil Output for Third Consecutive Month
Jamie Dimon Warns U.S. Bond Market Faces Pressure from Rising Debt
Turkey Detains Istanbul Officials Amid Anti-Corruption Crackdown
×