Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who’s locked in a court docket battle with Twitter over a failed acquisition bid that Twitter now intends to pressure by, mentioned that the social media large jeopardized its third largest market by failing to reveal “risky” litigation in opposition to the Indian authorities.

In a countersuit in a Delaware court docket which was filed underneath seal final Friday and made public Thursday, Musk additionally claimed that he was “hoodwinked” into signing the deal to purchase the San Francisco-based social media firm.

Musk mentioned that Twitter ought to observe the native regulation in India, in line with the court docket paperwork. Snapshots of the court docket paperwork had been seen circulating on Twitter posted by New York Times Tech Reporter Kate Conger @kateconger.

“In 2021, India’s information technology ministry imposed certain rules allowing the government to probe social media posts, demand identifying information, and prosecute companies that refused to comply. While Musk is a proponent of free speech, he believes that moderation on Twitter should “hew near the legal guidelines of nations wherein Twitter operates” read a portion of the legal filings in Twitter Vs Musk lawsuit, as posted by New York Times tech reporter Kate Conger in a series of tweets.

To Elon Musk’s averments in the court filings, Twitter responded that it “respectfully refers the Court for his or her full and correct contents. Twitter lacks information or data adequate to type a perception as to the reality of the allegations,” and said it “due to this fact denies them on that foundation.”

Referring to a petition filed in Karnataka High Court in July, Musk also objected to Twitter’s failure to disclose litigation against the Indian government.

“Twitter avers that it has challenged sure blocking orders issued by the Indian authorities underneath Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, directing Twitter to take away sure content material from its platform, together with content material from politicians, activists, and journalists, and that Twitter’s authorized,” the company said in its response.

Twitter, through its lawyer at the Karnataka High Court, said that their India business would close if they complied with Indian government orders to block content that competent authorities had deemed illegal. The High Court had issued notices to the Centre and adjourned the hearing for August 25th.

The microblogging website and the world’s richest man are now heading to trial on October 17 after Musk sought to abandon his deal to acquire Twitter over what he says is a misrepresentation of fake accounts on the site.

Twitter is trying to compel Musk to follow through on the deal while accusing him of sabotaging it because it no longer served his interests.

Earlier in April, Musk reached an acquisition agreement with Twitter at $54.20 (roughly Rs. 4,180) per share in a transaction valued at approximately $44 billion (roughly Rs. 3,37,465 crore)

In May, Musk put the deal on hold to allow his team to review the veracity of Twitter’s claim that less than 5 percent of accounts on the platform are bots or spam.