4 ms·

> But I think if he's going to use Twitter to talk about such things, his tweets need to carry the same weight as an equivalent SEC filing. A tweet is not an S

by zaroth 8y ago

> But I think if he's going to use Twitter to talk about such things, his tweets need to carry the same weight as an equivalent SEC filing. A tweet is not an SEC filing and it can never be one. It’s 140 characters typed on your phone. It is not reviewed by corporate counsel. It is not reviewed at all. I’m going to step out on a limb and say this is an important mode of communication. I like having this window into Musk’s operations. But a tweet is just a tweet. It’s never the whole story. Here we are dissecting two single words, and some people are saying jail a man. I say no two words on Twitter can jail a man. Fine him a million dollars a word if you have to.

matthewwiese 8y ago
> I say no two words on Twitter can jail a man. What about "I confess"? :) Nevertheless, I think the spirit of your argument is mostly valid. Musk is doing the equivalent of Roosevelt's fireside chats. Granted, he should be smarter than to tweet willy-nilly, but I suppose we can say the same for just about everybody on Twitter nowadays...
taneq 8y ago
> I say no two words on Twitter can jail a man. Fine him a million dollars a word if you have to. By convention, with two words you're 1/3 of the way to a hanging.
freerobby 8y ago
> A tweet is not an SEC filing and it can never be one. It’s 140 characters typed on your phone. It is not reviewed by corporate counsel. It is not reviewed at all. Right, but this is exactly the downside of disclosing things via Twitter. If Elon uses tweets and SEC filings interchangeably (that is what he's doing here -- this would ordinarily be disclosed in an 8-K), the rules are going to apply to both. It's not that I'm unsympathetic to his intentions, but the SEC can't carve out exceptions for impulsive behavior just because it happened on social media -- traders are acting on this information in real time and need to be able to trust it. (I agree the calls for imprisonment are beyond insane; I focus on the Twitter vs 8-K part of the story because I find it more interesting, and I'd like to see more CEOs speak directly to followers as Elon does but with a bit less impulsivity).

by zaroth 8y ago

matthewwiese 8y ago

> I say no two words on Twitter can jail a man. What about "I confess"? :) Nevertheless, I think the spirit of your argument is mostly valid. Musk is doing the equivalent of Roosevelt's fireside chats. Granted, he should be smarter than to tweet willy-nilly, but I suppose we can say the same for just about everybody on Twitter nowadays...

taneq 8y ago

> I say no two words on Twitter can jail a man. Fine him a million dollars a word if you have to. By convention, with two words you're 1/3 of the way to a hanging.

freerobby 8y ago

> A tweet is not an SEC filing and it can never be one. It’s 140 characters typed on your phone. It is not reviewed by corporate counsel. It is not reviewed at all. Right, but this is exactly the downside of disclosing things via Twitter. If Elon uses tweets and SEC filings interchangeably (that is what he's doing here -- this would ordinarily be disclosed in an 8-K), the rules are going to apply to both. It's not that I'm unsympathetic to his intentions, but the SEC can't carve out exceptions for impulsive behavior just because it happened on social media -- traders are acting on this information in real time and need to be able to trust it. (I agree the calls for imprisonment are beyond insane; I focus on the Twitter vs 8-K part of the story because I find it more interesting, and I'd like to see more CEOs speak directly to followers as Elon does but with a bit less impulsivity).