Closing Arguments Set to Begin in Twitter Shareholder Trial Against Musk

Lawsuit accuses world's richest man of deceptive behavior that drove down Twitter's stock price

Mar. 17, 2026 at 10:18am by Ben Kaplan

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Closing arguments are set to begin on Tuesday in a civil trial in San Francisco pitting Elon Musk against Twitter shareholders who claim the Tesla CEO engaged in a pattern of deceptive behavior that misled investors as he attempted to back out of his $44 billion deal to buy the social media platform in 2022.

Why it matters

The trial centers on a class-action lawsuit filed just before Musk took control of Twitter, which he later renamed X, in October 2022. Much of the trial has focused on Musk's claims about the number of bots on Twitter, which he used as a reason to retreat from the purchase.

The details

Musk testified that Twitter had a much higher number of fake and spam accounts than the 5% it disclosed in regulatory filings. However, Twitter's former CFO Ned Segal disputed this claim, saying the number was actually closer to 1%. The problem of bots and fake accounts on Twitter wasn't new, as the company had previously paid $809.5 million in 2021 to settle claims it was overstating its growth rate and monthly user figures.

  • Closing arguments are set to kick off on Tuesday, March 17, 2026.
  • Musk took control of Twitter, which he later renamed X, in October 2022.

The players

Elon Musk

The world's richest man and CEO of Tesla, who agreed to buy Twitter for $44 billion in 2022 but later tried to back out of the deal.

Ned Segal

Twitter's former Chief Financial Officer, who disputed Musk's claims about the number of bots on the platform.

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What they’re saying

“Saying the bot number was at least this high was like 'saying the grass is green or the sky is blue,'”

— Elon Musk

“Asked if Twitter ever filed false filings to the SEC that misstated its spam numbers, Segal said it did not.”

— Ned Segal, Twitter's former CFO (ksgf.com)

What’s next

The judge in the case will decide on the jury instructions before the closing arguments begin on Tuesday.

The takeaway

This trial highlights the ongoing tensions between Elon Musk and Twitter, as well as the challenges social media platforms face in accurately measuring and disclosing the prevalence of bots and fake accounts on their services.