Tesla CEO Elon Musk has reached an agreement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ending his months-long standoff with the regulator over his social media use.
The deal requires the entrepreneur to have his tweets about the car company pre-approved by a securities lawyer before he hits the tweet button. The arrangement covers a range of topics relating to the car-maker including the company’s financial health, production or delivery numbers and any potential mergers.
The SEC brought the case against Musk alleging he had violated a previous settlement requiring oversight of his social media use. The amended settlement places significantly more specific restrictions on Musk.
If approved by a US District judge the arrangement would mean that Musk could no longer be held in contempt of court. This would be a positive outcome for the CEO who faced hefty fines and possibly losing his job had he lost this most recent battle with the SEC.
It marks a ceasefire in Musk’s protracted spat with the commission which was triggered by the Tesla founder’s casual Twitter use.
A second pair of eyes looking at his Tesla related tweets is probably not a bad idea for a guy who called one of the rescuers of the Thai cave boys “pedo guy”. Vernon Unsworth is suing Musk for defamation over the comment and on Friday a federal judge in Los Angeles denied Musk’s request that the case be dismissed.