Musk aims to terminate SEC agreement for tweet preapproval.

• Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, is aiming to terminate an agreement with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
• The settlement required his tweets be vetted before publishing.
• The lawyer for Musk argued that following the SEC's rules is no longer possible due to their distorted interpretation of their authority.

Elon Musk is seeking to end his settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission that mandated tweet approval for material business information, as stated in a document filed Tuesday in a federal district court in New York.

In 2019, the settlement between Musk and the SEC was revised, but Musk's lawyer argued that it is no longer possible to comply with its rules due to the SEC's misinterpretation of its authority.

The more the SEC monitors Mr. Musk's Twitter activity and compels others to do the same, the greater the infringement on Mr. Musk's freedom of expression, the document claims.

The consent decree was a result of the SEC's accusation that Musk made "false and misleading" statements and failed to notify regulators of material events, which followed his "funding secured" tweet about taking Tesla private. The original settlement did not involve an admission or denial of wrongdoing by Musk.

The SEC is investigating whether Musk obtained Tesla's approval to tweet a poll about selling a portion of his stake in the company.

Musk's lawyers contend that the subpoena is part of a series of investigations without factual basis against Musk and his companies. They claim the SEC is attempting to tarnish Musk and Tesla's records with unfounded investigations. This pattern, they argue, demonstrates that the SEC issued the subpoena in bad faith.

According to the filing, Musk was "compelled" to sign the 2018 agreement due to the SEC's potential to jeopardize the company's financing and protracted litigation not being in the best interest of shareholders.

The SEC declined to comment.