THE legal battle surrounding the buyout of Twitter is starting to feel like a messy public celebrity divorce. At this point, no one is safe. One thing is clear, however, even for Tesla and SpaceX Founder Elon Musk, the idea of following through with a US$44 billion deal is scary stuff, especially with his recent moves to ensure he sets aside some money, just in case the Delaware-based Court of Equity, which will hear the legal case brought against Musk by Twitter’s Board of Directors, rules that he must follow through with the purchase.

Gina Chon, a columnist with Reuters, said in a recently-published commentary that the two powerful players have not resorted to “trying to grab each other’s dirty laundry by going after splashy technology players and white-shoe law firms”. How will they do this? By subpoenaing some of the technology world’s big players who were involved with either of the parties in the past. This could lead to a number of very embarrassing situations of sworn public disclosures against both Musk and Twitter. It’s easy to see, however, that Musk might feel the brunt of it, as his battle is against a company from which the directors can remain relatively inconspicuous throughout the process.

Musk, on the other hand, does not benefit from a diffusion of responsibility, and so he steps into the line of fire directly. Musk has been saving his coins in preparation for a decision that won’t favour him. Earlier this month, BBC reported that he sold another 7.92 million shares of his Tesla company, which amounted to approximately US$6.88 billion. It’s interesting to think of one of the world’s wealthiest men shaking the piggy bank in case he has to ‘fork up’ the dollars. But here we are.

Something about this imbroglio feels like a joke gone awry. But Musk isn’t even close to being finished. The billionaire, whose tweets have jeopardised even the value of his products, tweeted recently that he will buy English football club, Manchester United, according to another Reuters report. “To be clear, I support the left half of the Republican Party, and the right half of the Democratic Party! Also, I’m buying Manchester United ur (sic) welcome – Elon Musk,” Reuters said Musk, 51, tweeted to his 103 million followers.

In typical Elon Musk fashion, he went on to clarify, hours later, that he was only making a joke. “No, this is a long-running joke on Twitter. I’m not buying any sports teams… Although, if it were any team, it would be Man U… They were my fav (sic) team as a kid,” he was quoted in the media as saying. This newspaper has published a few editorials on the importance of responsible social media usage. And we have seen enough happen in this world to conclude that Online actions, whether intentional or unintentional, have, sometimes, dire offline consequences. But, who will impart this knowledge to a man dubbed the world’s wealthiest.

October is quickly approaching. The Delaware Court of Chancery will hear the legal battle between Twitter and Musk, and as Gina Chon wrote: “Musk isn’t known for discretion while Twitter rushed to sell to him. That means there could be a lot of skeletons in the closet. Both sides, and all those subpoenaed, are better off ensuring that what happened in the Twitter deal stays in the Twitter deal.” In the broader context of making social media platforms more accountable, maybe Twitter users, some 330 million of them, will finally see a side of the app that has thus far been deemed less invasive than META’s Facebook and Instagram. Time, Musk, and subpoenaed records will tell.