Musk wins lawsuit against Twitter, as the company is ordered to turn over documents.
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Musk wins lawsuit against Twitter, as the company is ordered to turn over documents.

Musk’s lawyers demanded that 22 Twitter employees turn over documents. Kayvon Beykpour, an employee, was ordered to produce documents by the judge presiding over the case.
Musk is now seeking additional data information through a confidential motion.

Business Insider has learned that Elon Musk will receive some of the additional information he has requested from Twitter in its lawsuit against him, and he is attempting to obtain even more.

Last Monday, Judge Kathleen St. Jude McCormick ordered Twitter to comply partly with Musk’s attorneys’ motion to compel. They sought documents from 22 additional Twitter employees who claimed to know the company’s process for analyzing spam or “bot” accounts. As part of the case, Twitter has already handed over information from 41 so-called “custodians” of information.

Musk’s motion to compel additional documentation was filed confidentially, which means it isn’t on the court’s docket. Neither did his counterclaims accusing Twitter of a fraudulent “scheme” involving user numbers and metrics. The docket now includes McCormick’s order.

Musk’s attorneys also filed another confidential motion to compel, according to a person familiar with the case. Musk is now attempting to push Twitter to provide more information about its user data collection and analysis methods. Musk has claimed for months that Twitter refused to give him all the data he requested. This new motion is expected to be decided on by McCormick this week.

Meanwhile, according to the judge’s short order, Twitter is now “required to collect, review, and produce documents” from Kayvon Beykpour, the platform’s former general manager for consumers. Beykpour joined Twitter in 2018 as an employee of then-CEO Jack Dorsey. Dorsey’s replacement, Parag Agrawal, fired Beykpour and a few other executives in May.

While Musk’s lawyers pressed for documents from several other Twitter employees, McCormick caved only on Beykpour. Beykpour, who has spent years leading the consumer-product side of Twitter, beginning as the head of consumer product, is likely to have insight and documentation on the bot analyses Musk is looking for. According to a person familiar with the situation, Musk’s attorneys also sought information from other employees ranging from mid-level executives to lower-level employees.

McCormick’s decision gives Musk a rare victory in the lawsuit that Twitter filed last month in an attempt to force Musk to follow through on his agreement to buy the platform for $44 billion. During the initial hearing, McCormick agreed with Twitter that its case against Musk should proceed to trial in October.

Musk, for his part, appears to have taken a more moderate tone on Twitter recently, at least publicly. He hasn’t tweeted about the company or the case in almost two weeks. He sold nearly $7 billion in Tesla stock last week, claiming it was in preparation for the eventual acquisition of Twitter.

Twitter’s stock has recently recovered, rising 16% in the last month and creeping closer to the $54.20 per share price that Musk initially agreed to pay for the company. Any attempt by Musk to argue that the company is not worth what he agreed to pay for it is likely to be hampered by such a rebound.

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