The Silicon Valley company filed the lawsuit in Delaware court on Tuesday, days after Musk announced last week that he planned to end the deal, alleging that Twitter breached the merger agreement by not sharing sufficient information about fake accounts. In the strongly worded complaint, Twitter’s lawyers said Musk’s claims were “pretextual and devoid of any merit.” They argued that Tesla’s CEO was trying to back out of the deal rather than “bear the cost” of the tech stock slump. “Having made a public spectacle to play Twitter, and having proposed and then signed a seller-friendly merger agreement, Musk apparently believes that – unlike any other party subject to Delaware contract law – he is free to change your mind. company, disrupt its operations, destroy shareholder value and walk away,” the complaint said. The complaint also accused Musk of “a long list of material contractual breaches . . . which have placed a burden on Twitter and its operations,” including suspending the deal “pending the satisfaction of hypothetical conditions,” in violation of funding and insider trading obligations. The lawsuit contained photos of numerous tweets in which Musk appeared to goad Twitter and its leadership, which his lawyers claimed violated the agreement’s obligation not to disparage the company. The move sets the stage for a messy legal battle between Twitter and one of its most prolific and powerful users. The company’s lawyers asked the court to rush the trial to September. The lawsuit reveals how the deal between Twitter and Musk evolved, starting with the 9.1 percent stake he built “in secret” in March. It reported that Musk told Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal and board chairman Bret Taylor that he had three options in mind: join the company’s board, take over the business or start a competitor . Musk was offered and accepted a board seat, but days later changed his mind and made an unsolicited offer for Twitter, saying he would have to “reevaluate my position as a shareholder” if his offer was not accepted. Announcing his plans for Twitter, Musk promised to boost its flight operations, remove fake accounts from the platform and introduce a “free speech” ethos. But on Friday, Musk announced his intention to withdraw from the deal.

His team disputed Twitter’s estimate of the number of fake accounts, which stands at 5 percent of users, and accused it of making “materially misleading statements” in its public disclosures. In its lawsuit, Twitter rejected the fake accounts’ allegation and called Musk’s reason for denying the deal “a model of hypocrisy.” Musk also texted Taylor in April saying that “purging the fake users” could only happen if Twitter were a private company because it “would make the numbers look terrible,” according to the complaint. Some analysts have suggested that Musk may be trying to negotiate the deal at a lower price given the rout in tech stocks and that the parties could reach an agreement to avoid costly and protracted litigation. Musk did not immediately return a request for comment. Twitter’s lawsuit also alluded to speculation that Musk’s offer to buy the company may have been a joke: “For Musk, it appears, Twitter, the interests of its shareholders, the transaction Musk agreed to, and the legal process for enforcement everything is an elaborate joke.’