Twitter sues Elon Musk to force him to complete acquisition of company

Twitter filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk on Tuesday, after he backed out of a $44 billion deal to purchase the social media company.

Musk said in April that he would buy Twitter, but last week announced he was walking away from the deal, claiming the company would not provide him with accurate information on how many spam accounts are on the platform. Twitter is suing Musk in Chancery Court in Delaware, and said in its filing that "Musk refuses to honor his obligations to Twitter and its stockholders because the deal he signed no longer serves his personal interests. Musk apparently believes that he — unlike every other party subject to Delaware contract law — is free to change his mind, trash the company, disrupt its operations, destroy stockholder value, and walk away."

The court will decide whether Musk must go through with the purchase, or if he can exit the agreement because Twitter did not give him the data he asked for. Twitter is asking for a four-day trial in September.

The New York Times reports that in the contract Musk signed with Twitter, the company included a specific performance clause that gives it the ability to sue to force the deal through, "so long as the debt that the billionaire has corralled for the acquisition is in place."