Twitter attacks don’t count, says Elon Musk in ‘pedo’ libel fight

Elon Musk is fighting a libel claim from a British rescue diver he called a “pedo” on Twitter, arguing that he was being flippant.

Elon Musk’s lawyers argued the comments were “just imaginative attacks”, plainly exaggerated and delivered on Twitter, which is “infamous for invective and hyperbole”. Pictures: AFP/Twitter

Elon Musk is fighting a libel claim from a British rescue diver he accused of paedophilia, arguing that his statement was obviously flippant because it made was on Twitter.

The technology billionaire, 47, filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit in California this week in which his lawyers said that the comments were “just imaginative attacks”, plainly exaggerated and delivered on Twitter, which is “infamous for invective and hyperbole”.

Vernon Unsworth sued Mr Musk for libel and slander in September and is seeking at least dollars 75,000 in damages.

The row began in July when Mr Unsworth dismissed as a “PR stunt” Mr Musk’s offer to help the rescue of 12 boys and their football coach stranded in a cave in Thailand. Mr Musk had seconded engineers from his companies to build a miniature submarine and had travelled with it to Thailand, where Narongsak Osottanakorn, head of the search operation, said it was “not practical for our mission”.

Mr Unsworth, who is from St Albans, north of London, but now lives in Thailand, was on the scene during the rescue. His knowledge of the caves was crucial in the rescue and he was unimpressed by Mr Musk. “He can stick his submarine where it hurts,” he told CNN. “It just had absolutely no chance of working.”

The notorious tweet where entrepreneur Elon Musk referred to the British diver as a "pedo". Picture: Twitter

In a tweet he has since deleted, Mr Musk responded by calling Mr Unsworth a “pedo guy”. His lawyers argue that “the public knew that Musk’s insults were not intended to be statements of fact”. They said he had been “shocked by Unsworth’s indefensible attacks” and “took to Twitter — a social networking website infamous for invective and hyperbole — to respond”.

Mr Musk later sent an email to the news organisation Buzzfeed in which he wrote of Mr Unsworth: “He’s an old, single white guy from England who’s been travelling to or living in Thailand for 30 to 40 years, mostly Pattaya Beach, until moving to Chiang Rai for a child bride who was about 12 years old at the time.” He added: “I f***ing hope he sues me.” Mr Musk has said he designated the email “off the record” but Buzzfeed says that it never agreed to that condition. Mr Unsworth was 63 at the time. His partner is in her 40s.

Lin Wood, a lawyer for Mr Unsworth, rejected Mr Musk’s “frivolous contention that all statements published on Twitter or other social media are protected speech”, saying: “I am confident the trial court will likewise reject this fanciful position.”

— The Times