Olivia Cavallaro Tech 08.25.2022 22:Aug PM EDT

Judge Rejects Elon Musk's 'Absurdly Broad' Data Demands, Orders Twitter to Turn Over 2021 Audit Results

A Delaware judge disapproved of the Tesla CEO's request to gain access to a wide array of data from Twitter.

On Thursday, Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick of Delaware's Court of Chancery rejected the "absurdly broad" demands made by Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who wished to gain access to a range of Twitter data in his pursuit to end his $44 billion acquisition deal with the social media company.

Chancellor McCormick said that Musk's requests were "absurdly broad," remarking that the amount of Twitter data he wanted to gain access to would go up to the trillions, adding that "no one in their right mind has ever tried to undertake such an effort," Reuters reported.

The Delaware judge added that Musk already had the data and documents he needed to carry out his lawsuit against Twitter, as these had been provided to him before he announced on July 8 that he was terminating the deal following his accusation that the social media company was withholding information.

Judge Rules Twitter Provided 'Sufficient' Information in the Case

Chancellor McCormick wrote that her overall impression was that Twitter had "agreed to produce a tremendous amount of information" to Musk and that this information was "sufficiently broad" enough to carry out the case. The court ordered Twitter to provide data from 9,000 accounts from its fourth quarter audit that estimated the number of bot or small users on the social media platform.

Twitter argued that the data no longer exists and that it would be time-consuming to re-gather the data once more. Chancellor McCormick gave the social media company 14 days to produce the required data.

Musk Alleges Twitter Defrauded Him Over Misrepresentation of User Data

Musk accused Twitter of defrauding him after the social media company released financial disclosures that outlined the number of real users and bot or spam users. He used the data indicated in the financial disclosures to create his offer to buy Twitter and wanted the company to confirm their actual estimates of spam accounts.

In an emailed statement to The Guardian, Musk's attorney Alex Spiro confirmed that they "look forward to reviewing the data Twitter has been hiding for many months."

Musk is desperate to get his hands on the data to prove the audit's accuracy after Twitter claimed that spam accounts only accounted for 5% of its user base. Now, the Tesla CEO wants Chancellor McCormick to rule that he can discontinue his bid to purchase Twitter.

Twitter on the other hand, hopes Chancellor McCormick would rule that Musk must close the deal at the agreed upon price of $54.20 per share. Twitter argued further that Musk's tirade against its spam accounts were "legally irrelevant" because the social media company described the number of spam accounts as an estimate versus a representation. It admitted, however, that the actual number of spam accounts may be higher.

According to CBS News, Musk subpoenaed former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey for the October 17 trial in Delaware. Other individuals who have been subpoenaed are tech investors and entrepreneurs close to Musk, including Marc Andreessen and David Sacks.

On Thursday, Dorsey replied to a user named Rudy who asked, "Wondering what was your intent on Twitter and has it turned out the way you wanted?" The former Twitter CEO replied, "The biggest issue and my biggest regret is that it became a company."