I get the sense that the decide overseeing the upcoming Twitter vs Elon Musk trial actually doesn’t take care of Elon all that a lot.

With the trial set for October, by which Musk will search to exit his $44 billion Twitter takeover bid, on the grounds that Twitter has lied concerning the presence of bots and spam on its app, Musk and Twitter are actually within the evidence-gathering stage, as they appear to formulate their respective circumstances within the course of.

This week, Musk and Co. had what gave the impression to be a win, with former Twitter Safety chief Peter ‘Mudge’ Zatko leveling a spread of accusations towards the corporate, together with the suggestion that Twitter has certainly intentionally lied concerning the presence of bots and spam within the app.

Musk himself appeared fairly proud of Zatko’s revelations – although whether or not they’ll truly make any distinction, in relation to Musk’s authorized case, is up for debate.

Although it appears unlikely, with Twitter noting that the unique phrases of the deal embody the availability that its bot/spam numbers are estimates, not stone-clad knowledge factors, which Musk agreed to when he signed the unique doc.

That implies that Musk and his staff will in all probability nonetheless want to search out one other method out – and this week, Musk’s staff had one other minor win, with the decide within the case ruling that Twitter has to supply extra perception into the way it assesses its bot/spam counts.

Musk and Co. requested for a spread of information factors on the accounts that Twitter has assessed up to now, and the decide dominated that Twitter does have to supply some additional information.

However there was additionally this:    

“Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick of Delaware’s Court docket of Chancery mentioned lots of Musk’s knowledge calls for had been “absurdly broad,” amounting to trillions of information factors that “nobody of their proper thoughts has ever tried to undertake such an effort.”

All through the exploratory course of, McCormick has appeared largely unsympathetic to Musk’s place, as Twitter has offered its authorized case. After viewing Twitter’s unique case notes, McCormick dominated that the case trial can be expedited to five days in October, which is far shorter and quicker than Musk’s staff had pushed for.

That would mirror the view that Twitter is on steadier floor, in a authorized sense (although Twitter had pushed for a September trial date), with the complexities that Musk and Co. have offered failing to shift the needle, at the very least at this stage of the method.

However now, Musk will get extra knowledge, whereas Musk can also be looking for to sit down down with Zatko to debate his revelations, within the hope that this too will assist to solidify his case.

It doesn’t appear to be it’ll add a heap of authorized weight to Musk’s claims – however then once more, Zatko’s testimony does forged extra doubt over Twitter’s inner processes, whereas the pending fines consequently, which could possibly be within the billions, may additionally be grounds for dismissal of the takeover settlement, primarily based on  Materials Antagonistic Impact (i.e. an unexpected change within the scenario which alters the make-up of the unique settlement).

However in all probability not. We’ll simply have to attend and see.

On one other entrance, former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey woke up from hibernation this week to share a few of his typical, faux-philosophical ideas on how issues are going for the app.

In response to a tweeted query about whether or not Twitter has turned out the best way that he needed, Dorsey mentioned that his largest remorse is that Twitter turned an organization within the first place.

Dorsey – who’s made hundreds of thousands from promoting Twitter inventory – has a brand new, revisionist perspective: that Twitter ought to truly be a protocol as an alternative, which might function extra like electronic mail, and wouldn’t be owned by an organization or state.

Which is silly, and is senseless for numerous causes – whereas it’s additionally price noting that Dorsey has beforehand mentioned that his ‘largest remorse’ is:

So, principally, Jack Dorsey has numerous regrets, which displays each his fickle nature and his philosophical flexibility, which is able to change once more subsequent time you ask him.

In different phrases, don’t ask Jack. Happening remarks from those that labored on the firm throughout his tenure, he wasn’t round a lot both method.

So, issues are nonetheless fairly tense, nonetheless fairly chaotic within the Twitter/Musk stakes, with the newest accusations in all probability not serving to Musk’s case, however positively not serving to Twitter itself in any method both.

Which is the following huge query – what occurs to Twitter after the trial in October?

If Musk by some means does win, and wriggles out of his takeover bid, Twitter can be left with an enormous mess to scrub up, and never a lot cash with which to do it, whereas if Musk loses, he’ll be taking up an organization that he publicly fought tooth and nail to get away from, which might be not preferrred scenario for the workers which might be left behind.

After which, once more, will come the potential fines primarily based on Zatko’s testimony, whereas Twitter’s share worth, you’ll count on, can even be in free fall – as a result of clearly, even Elon noticed one thing within the app’s documentation that made his flip on the app.

Principally, in three months time, we’re going to be taking a look at Twitter so much otherwise. And it in all probability received’t be for the higher.

The five-day Elon vs Twitter trial is scheduled for October seventeenth