'I do not respect the SEC': Elon Musk dismisses regulator and claims he still has full control of his tweets
Tesla chief executive Elon Musk has said nobody is vetting his tweets months after a dispute with the US Securities and Exchange Commission over social media posts that sent Tesla's share price soaring.
Mr Musk agreed to a settlement that would allow Tesla oversight of his posts on Twitter, specifically of messages that could lead to share price moves.
In an interview with CBS's 60 Minutes, Mr Musk said: "I want to be clear, I do not respect the SEC."
In August, Mr Musk sent a tweet claiming he had "funding secured" for a deal that would have taken the electric car company Tesla off the public markets. The tweet sent shares in the company skyrocketing and led to a dispute with the SEC after a deal failed to materialise.
Mr Musk was fined $20m (£16m) and signed a settlement that included conditions over his use of social media. The settlement called for Mr Musk to seek pre-approval for all communications that could influence share price.
Just want to that the Shortseller Enrichment Commission is doing incredible work. And the name change is so on point!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 4, 2018
According to the SEC settlement, Mr Musk must “comply with all mandatory procedures implemented by Tesla regarding ... the pre-approval of any such written communications that contain, or reasonably could contain, information material to the company or its shareholders”.
Mr Musk told CBS: “The only tweets that would have to be, say, reviewed would be if a tweet had a probability of causing a movement in the stock. Otherwise, it’s: ‘Hello, first amendment.’”
The Tesla boss added that while he “respects the justice system”, he did not respect the US securities regulator. In the heat of his bitter feud with the SEC, Mr Musk tweeted out a claim that the regulator's name stood for the “Shortseller Enrichment Commission”.
Tesla said it was working on a policy to comply with the SEC settlement that would ensure communications that contain material significant information would be pre-approved.
The SEC also forced Mr Musk to step down as chairman of Tesla and install an independent candidate instead. Mr Musk added that despite having appointed Robyn Denholm as chairman, as the largest shareholder he can still "get anything done that I want".
