Twitter sues Elon Musk over bid to exit $44bn takeover deal

Twitter sued Elon Musk on Tuesday to force him to complete his $44bn takeover of the social media giant after he announced on Friday he would withdraw his bid.

Musk could be ordered to pay $1bn for walking away, a penalty he indicated in a filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission he is seeking to evade. The SEC could levy additional penalties against Musk, including removing him from leadership of one or more of the several companies he leads, including Neuralink, Tesla, and SpaceX.

Carl Tobias, a scholar at the University of Richmond School of Law, said the litigation could consume several months or longer, making a settlement likely.

With the deal, Musk stood to take control of a social media network with more than 200 million users. An avid but critical user of the platform, he had vowed to push through various reforms, including relaxing its content restrictions, ridding the platform of fake and automated accounts and shifting away from its advertising-based revenue model.

Dan Milmo contributed to this story.