A federal jury in San Francisco unanimously ruled on Friday that Elon Musk provided materially misleading information to Twitter investors during the months before his $44 billion takeover of the platform in 2022. The verdict comes after a nearly three-week trial that began on March 2, 2026. NPR ↗
The nine-member jury deliberated for four days and concluded that two of Musk's tweets from May 2022 were not merely inaccurate but materially misleading. The first, from May 13, claimed that the Twitter acquisition deal was "temporarily on hold" pending a review of fake accounts. The second, from May 17, suggested that the transaction could not proceed until he obtained information about the proportion of bots on the platform. CNBC ↗
Twitter shares fell below $33 apiece following these statements, representing a drop of approximately 40 percent from Musk's original offer of $54.20 per share. Investors who sold their holdings during this period suffered significant losses. NPR ↗
The jury set damages in the range of $3 to $8 per share per day, which according to the plaintiffs' attorneys amounts to a total of approximately $2.1 billion. Some estimates put the figure as high as $2.5 billion, depending on the number of investors who join the class action. The final amount of damages will still be determined by the court. NBC News ↗
However, the jury cleared Musk of the charge of orchestrating a systematic fraudulent scheme against investors. It likewise ruled that his statement on a podcast was a personal opinion, not fraud. This partial acquittal gives Musk's lawyers grounds for an appeal. NPR ↗
During the trial, Musk claimed that Twitter had significantly more fake accounts than the declared 5 percent — in his view "at least 20 percent." However, former Twitter CFO Ned Segal testified in court that the actual proportion of bots was "closer to one percent" and that the company never filed false documents with regulators. Al Jazeera ↗
Lead plaintiff Brian Belgrave, a businessman from Oregon, testified before the jury that in July 2022 he sold thousands of Twitter shares believing that Musk would withdraw from the purchase. The sale price was significantly lower than the amount for which he had originally bought the shares. "I was deceived," Belgrave told the jury. NPR ↗
Attorney Monte Mann of the law firm Armstrong Teasdale commented on the verdict, saying: "If you move markets with your words, you bear responsibility for that." Musk's lawyers from the firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan announced they would appeal and described the verdict as a "bump in the road" on the way to overall victory. CNBC ↗
This is not the first time Musk has faced legal trouble over his tweets. In 2023, however, a jury ruled in his favor in a similar shareholder lawsuit involving Tesla, in which he was accused of posting misleading statements about the automaker. This time the outcome was different, and the verdict could set an important precedent for the accountability of public figures for statements that affect financial markets. NBC News ↗
Musk loses key court case: jury attributes billions in damages to Twitter investors
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