• A jury has found Elon Musk liable for misleading investors during his Twitter acquisition.
• The jury's verdict absolved Musk of a deliberate fraud scheme despite finding him liable for false statements.
• Musk's misleading tweets reportedly led to billions in damages for shareholders.

A federal jury in San Francisco has determined that Elon Musk misled Twitter investors, contributing to a decline in the company’s stock price leading up to his $44 billion acquisition in 2022. While the jury found Musk liable for misleading investors based on two specific tweets, it also absolved him of engaging in a deliberate scheme to defraud them. The trial lasted several weeks, with the jury deliberating for approximately three days before reaching a verdict on March 20, 2026, according to CBS News and NPR.

The jury identified that Musk provided misleading statements regarding the percentage of bots on Twitter, which he alleged was far higher than the 5% stated in regulatory filings. These claims were cited as a reason Musk attempted to back out of the acquisition, leading to significant stock devaluation and subsequent losses for shareholders who sold their shares in the interim. The civil case allowed jurors to assess whether Musk's public comments constituted fraud, as indicated by jury findings reported across multiple outlets including India Times and South China Morning Post.

Musk's misleading assertions included a tweet stating that the Twitter deal was “temporarily on hold,” which was central to the jury's decision. Shareholders argued that this tweet and the surrounding context artificially depressed Twitter's stock price, giving Musk leverage to negotiate a lower purchase price. Despite this, the jury ultimately concluded that Musk did not intend to defraud investors and did not find him liable for a broader conspiracy to deceive, as specified in the verdict cited by BBC and Reuters.

The potential damages resulting from the verdict are substantial, with estimates suggesting that Musk could face payouts in the billions, including calculations that suggest damages could amount to about $2.6 billion. The jury awarded damages based on share prices for the period when Musk's statements were made, with estimates ranging from $3 to $8 per share per day lost during the turmoil. These findings raise important implications regarding accountability for influential figures in the market, as emphasized by the jury's comments regarding compliance with securities regulations, as reported by Le Monde and Los Angeles Times.