SEC says it’s not violating Elon Musk’s right to free speech

By TOM KRISHER
AP Auto Writer

DETROIT (AP) — The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is denying allegations that it is violating Elon Musk’s free speech rights by trying to enforce a 2018 securities fraud settlement. The commission says in an appeals brief filed Thursday that Musk waived his First Amendment rights by agreeing to the settlement. It also rejected Musk’s argument to scrap the agreement because he signed it under financial duress. The SEC said its work in the interest of shareholders outweighs Musk’s interest in being able to tweet about Tesla without Tesla’s approval. The dispute stems from an October 2018 agreement with the SEC that Musk signed involving statements on Twitter. Musk and Tesla each agreed to pay $20 million in civil fines over Musk’s tweets about having “funding secured” to take Tesla private.