In a recent development, an Irish court has approved the commencement of a defamation lawsuit against billionaire Elon Musk by Aaron Rodericks, a former employee of Musk’s company, X, formerly known as Twitter.
What Happened: Rodericks, previously a threat disruption team leader at Twitter, remained at the company after it was acquired and rebranded by Musk as X. He has now received approval to serve Musk with a defamation lawsuit, reported Business Insider.
Rodericks and his team were let go as part of Musk’s job cuts. Rodericks later managed to secure an injunction against his termination, resulting in a suspension as opposed to a full dismissal.
An email sent by Benzinga to X seeking comment didn’t elicit any response till the time of publishing this story.
The defamation lawsuit stems from a tweet by Musk following the layoffs. Rodericks and his legal team assert that the tweet, implying that Rodericks’ team was undermining election integrity, directly referred to him and harmed his reputation.
Despite Rodericks’ requests for the removal of the tweet and an offer of amends, Musk reportedly ignored both. Twitter’s Ireland branch also dismissed Rodericks’ plea to take down the tweet, stating it did not violate the platform’s rules. As the lawsuit moves forward, Musk can now be served with a summons.
Why It Matters: This is one of the legal battles Musk is contending with. In December, former Twitter security head Alan Rosa filed a lawsuit against Musk and X, alleging his termination was unjust and due to cost-cutting strategies that jeopardized regulatory compliance. The lawsuit claims that Davis was hired to "begin cutting Twitter's products and services that supported and complied with the Twitter FTC Consent Decree."
Musk’s drastic staff reduction at X has also led to severe criticism. In July last year, it was reported that some former employees in a lawsuit claimed they had not received their severance pay or any communication from the company months after being let go. Musk had cut about 80% of Twitter’s workforce after acquiring the social media platform in 2022.
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