Elon Musk laughs off Twitter lawsuit threat in wake of $44bn pullout

theguardian.com:

Elon Musk’s silence over his attempt to bail out on purchasing Twitter for $44bn is no more.

Early on Monday, the world’s richest man went on the social media platform he claims he is no longer trying to buy, and fired off a series of tweets suggesting he is gearing up for the legal battle his withdrawal from the sale is expected to spur.

One tweet contained a four-picture frame meme of him laughing, next to sentences reading: “They said I couldn’t buy Twitter. Then they wouldn’t disclose bot info. Now they want to force me to buy Twitter in court. Now they have to disclose bot info in court.”

Another tweet was a picture of the actor Chuck Norris sitting at a chessboard with his chin resting atop his folding hands. A reply to that tweet read “Chuckmate” – a clear pun for “checkmate”.

The tweets, from Musk’s verified account, served as his first comments on his legal team’s Friday disclosure that he intends to nix his takeover of Twitter, which the network first resisted but then warmed up to.

Twitter announced in late April that it would sell to Musk, but on Friday, lawyers for Musk publicly filed notice that he wanted out of the agreement, arguing among other things that the platform had failed to provide promised information on fake and spam accounts – so-called bots.

The maneuver set off a firestorm of reactions, including from Donald Trump, who called Musk a “bullshit artist” and his deal to buy Twitter “rotten” while stumping for Republican political candidates in Alaska over the weekend.

The move also seemingly leaves Musk destined for a lengthy fight with Twitter in court. Notably, Twitter’s