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Elon Musk tells Twitter to turn over names of workers calculating bot users

U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. -- Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk speaks with Lt. Gen. Richard Clark, Superintendent of the U.S. Air Force Academy, during the Ira C. Eaker Distinguished Speaker Presentation in the Academy's Arnold Hall on April 7, 2022 in Colorado Springs, Colo. (U.S. Air Force photo by Trevor cokley)

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Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s legal team has alleged that Twitter is hiding the names of workers calculating bot users. The workers would likely be serving as key witnesses to the companies’ court battle this October. Musk’s legal team has submitted a letter to Delaware Chancery Court Judge Kathaleen St. J. McCormick for this purpose, asking her to compel Twitter to hand over pertinent employee names for the case. 

In a way, the efforts of Musk’s lawyers could be seen as an attempt to persuade the judge to force Twitter into identifying and listing the names of workers that are responsible for calculating bot users. This number, Musk alleged, is key information that determines Twitter’s monetization. 

The letter from Musk’s lawyers was reportedly filed on Tuesday under seal. Considering the rules of the court, Twitter’s legal team would now have five business days to decide what must be redacted from the filing as proprietary information, according to a Bloomberg report. Information about the letter from Musk’s team was reportedly shared by individuals familiar with the matter. 

Twitter has so far not issued a statement about the recent filing from Musk’s legal team. 

The social media company, however, has reportedly handed over the names of “record custodians,” though Bloomberg’s sources noted that these individuals are not as familiar with data related to Musk’s main concerns. Musk, for his part, recently confirmed on Twitter that his recent round of TSLA stock sales was made as a contingency plan just in case Twitter is successful in forcing him to buy the social media company at $54.20 per share. 

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Both Elon Musk’s legal teams have issued a number of subpoenas for their respective cases. So far, subpoenas have been submitted to banks, investors, and lawyers who were involved in Elon Musk’s attempt to acquire Twitter. University of Richmond law professor Carl Tobias, who specializes in securities and merger and acquisition law, has noted that Twitter and Musk’s strategies are quite common. 

“It’s another salvo in the discovery wars that are common in this kind of litigation. Both sides are jockeying for position by targeting different information,” Tobias said. 

Elon Musk and Twitter’s upcoming court battle was instigated by the Tesla CEO’s announcement that he was walking away from his efforts to acquire the social media company. Musk had taken issue with Twitter’s SEC filings which maintained that less than 5% of its users were fake or spam accounts. The Tesla CEO pressed Twitter for information, and the social media company responded by granting Musk access to its “firehose.” Unsatisfied with Twitter’s “firehose” data, Musk announced that he was walking away from the deal, prompting the social media company to file suit. 

Don’t hesitate to contact us with news tips. Just send a message to simon@teslarati.com to give us a heads up.

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Simon is an experienced automotive reporter with a passion for electric cars and clean energy. Fascinated by the world envisioned by Elon Musk, he hopes to make it to Mars (at least as a tourist) someday. For stories or tips--or even to just say a simple hello--send a message to his email, simon@teslarati.com or his handle on X, @ResidentSponge.

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Tesla Model Y charges to bring strongest month in Australia in 2025

Tesla saw a strong month of sales in Australia, led by the dominating performance of the Model Y.

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Credit: Tesla China

Tesla can thank the Model Y for bringing the company to its strongest monthly performance of the year in Australia.

In May, the Model Y accounted for 3,580 of the 3,897 total sales Tesla reported for the month in Australia. That’s a 9.3 percent increase from May 2024, while the Model Y had its best month since June 2024 with a 122.5 percent increase from the same month a year prior.

Additionally, it was the company’s best May in two years, when it sold 4,476 cars in May 2023.

It is a strong point in what has been a tough year for Tesla, but the difficulty can mostly be attributed to the switchover of production lines the company performed at each of its global production facilities.

It updated the Model Y earlier this year with a brand new front and rear fascia, as well as suspension improvements, and cabin modifications to provide a more comfortable ride.

Tesla’s Country Manager for Australia, Thom Drew, spoke to Drive in April about the Model Y and its influence on the company’s performance in Australia.

Tesla Cybertruck needs changes before Australia entry, but no guarantees it will arrive

He said the company saw tremendous interest in the Launch Edition of the new Model Y, which featured premium badging and some other novelty improvements compared to the Long Range All-Wheel-Drive that is available already.

Drew said:

“When we launched orders back in January, we had an enormous response to the launch edition. We’ve only just started test drives in the last couple of weeks. The boat’s been slowly making its way around the country. And now we’re seeing that kind of second wave come through, and seeing a lot of interest. I think we had a record test drive week, last week, in our entire history. So yeah, [we’re] seeing some really strong interest.”

Tesla is hoping to see improvements in sales performance across the globe, but it is primarily focused on the rollout of the Robotaxi platform, which is set for release on June 12.

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Elon Musk explains Tesla’s domestic battery strategy

Elon Musk responded to a new note from an analyst that highlighted Tesla’s battery strategy.

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Elon Musk giving YouTube tech reviewer Marques Brownlee a tour of the Fremont factory. (Credit: MKBHD/YouTube)

Tesla CEO Elon Musk explained the automaker’s strategy for building batteries from top to bottom in a domestic setting as the company continues to alleviate its reliance on Chinese materials, something other companies are too dependent on.

With the Trump Administration, it is no secret that the prioritization of U.S.-built products, including sourcing most of the materials from American companies, is at the forefront of its strategy.

The goal is to become less dependent on foreign products, which would, in theory, bolster the U.S. economy by creating more jobs and having less reliance on foreign markets, especially China, to manufacture the key parts of things like cars and tech.

In a note from Alexander Potter, an analyst for the firm Piper Sandler, Tesla’s strategy regarding batteries specifically is broken down.

Potter says Tesla is “the only car company that is trying to source batteries, at scale, without relying on China.”

He continues:

“Eventually, Tesla will be making its own cathode active materials, refining its own lithium, building its own anodes, coating its own electrodes, assembling its own cells, and selling its own cars; No other US company can make similar claims.”

Musk, who spent time within the Trump White House through his work with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), said that Tesla is doing the “important” work of localizing supply chains as the risks that come with being too dependent on foreign entities could be detrimental to a company, especially one that utilizes many parts and supplies that are manufactured mostly in China.

Tesla has done a lot of work to source and even manufacture its own batteries within the United States, a project that has been in progress for several years but will pay dividends in the end.

According to a 2023 Nikkei analysis, Tesla’s battery material suppliers were dominated by Chinese companies. At the time, a whopping 39 percent of the company’s cell materials came from Chinese companies.

This number is decreasing as it operates its own in-house cell and material production projects, like its lithium refinery in Texas.

It also wants to utilize battery manufacturers that have plans to build cells in the U.S.

Panasonic, for example, is building a facility in Kansas that will help Tesla utilize domestically-manufactured cells for its cars.

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Tesla stock: Morgan Stanley says eVTOL is calling Elon Musk for new chapter

Could Tesla dive into the eVTOL market? Morgan Stanley takes a look.

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Daniel Oberhaus, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Tesla shares are up nearly 20 percent in the past month, but that is not stopping the only trillion-dollar automaker from attracting all types of new potential sectors to disrupt, at least from an investor and analyst perspective.

Morgan Stanley’s Adam Jonas is not one to shy away from some ideas that many investors would consider far-fetched. In a recent note, Jonas brought up some interesting discussion regarding Tesla’s potential in the eVTOL industry, and how he believes CEO Elon Musk’s answer was not convincing enough to put it off altogether.

Tesla’s Elon Musk says electric planes would be ‘fun problem to work on’

Musk said that Tesla was “stretched pretty thin” when a question regarding a plane being developed came up. Jonas said:

“In our opinion, that’s a decidedly different type of answer. Is Tesla an aviation/defense-tech company in auto/consumer clothing?”

Musk has been pretty clear about things that Tesla won’t do. Although he has not unequivocally denied aviation equipment, including planes and drones, as he has with things like motorcycles, it does not seem like something that is on Musk’s mind.

Instead, he has focused the vast majority of his time at Tesla on vehicle autonomy, AI, and robotics, things he sees as the future.

Tesla and China, Robotics, Pricing

Morgan Stanley’s note also discussed Tesla’s prowess in its various areas of expertise, how it will keep up with Chinese competitors, as there are several, and the race for affordable EVs in the country.

Tesla is the U.S.’s key to keeping up with China

“In our view, Tesla’s expertise in manufacturing, data collection, robotics/ physical AI, energy, supply chain, and infrastructure are more critical than ever before to put the US on an even footing with China in embodied AI,” Jonas writes.

It is no secret that Tesla is the leader in revolutionizing things. To generalize, the company has truly dipped its finger in all the various pies, but it is also looked at as a leader in tech, which is where Chinese companies truly have an advantage.

Robotics and the ‘Humanoid Olympics’

Jonas mentioned China’s recent showcasing of robots running half marathons and competing in combat sports as “gamification of robotic innovation.”

Tesla could be at the forefront of the effort to launch something similar, as the analyst predicts the U.S. version could be called “Humanoid Ninja Warrior.”

Pricing

Tesla is set to launch affordable models before the end of Q2, leaving this month for the company to release some details.

While the pricing of those models remains in limbo with the $7,500 tax credit likely disappearing at the end of 2024, companies in China have been able to tap incredibly aggressive pricing models. Jonas, for example, brings up the BYD Seagull, which is priced at just about $8,000.

Tesla can tap into an incredibly broader market if it can manage to bring pricing to even below $30,000, which is where many hope the affordable models end up.

During the Q3 2024 Earnings Call, Musk said that $30,000 is where it would be with the tax credit:

“Yeah. It will be like with incentive. So, 30K, which is kind of a key threshold.”

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