During a deposition his lawyer tried to keep confidential, Elon Musk says 'people are attacked all the time' on social media, but it rarely has 'a meaningful negative impact on their life'
A recent court deposition in the case between 22-year-old Ben Brody and the owner of Twitter, Elon Musk, has been made publicly available after a transcript was obtained by the Huffington Post.
First, some important context. The lawsuit, filed by Brody, relates to a reply to a since-deleted tweet June 27 of last year. Musk accused a brawl that broke out (between the far-right groups the Proud Boys and a local neo-Nazi organisation) during Pride Night Fest in Oregon City, June 24, as being a «probable false flag situation».
Musk theorised that two members in the footage looked like «a college student (who wants to join the government» and «maybe an Antifa member». This led to Brody being falsely accused of being a federal agent plant in the Rose City Nationalists, the local neo-nazi group in question. After another user falsely identified him as such, Musk responded: «Always remove their masks.»
Brody, who wasn't even in the state at the time, is seeking over $1 million in damages—and says that the harassment following Musk's seeming endorsement of Brody's false identification forced his family to move home. As for the deposition itself, it starts as it means to go on—that is to say, disastrously.
«You're aware that Ben Brody is somebody who's sued you, right?» asks Brody's attorney Mark Bankston, to which Musk replies: «I think you're the one suing.»
Bankston corrects him, noting: «Actually, Mr. Musk, I'm an attorney. Did you know that? I'm an attorney representing Mr. Brody.» Musk nonetheless insists that, in his opinion, Bankston is the one filing the lawsuit, and is «a lawyer seeking money», making him the «real plaintiff». Throughout the deposition itself, Bankston is continually interrupted by Alex Spiro, Musk's lawyer.
«I am going to interrupt again,» Spiro announces after several such interruptions, before asking how the tweet Bankston is referencing is relevant to the case. Bankston replies: «This is what he posted on the day of the brawl, and this case
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