The U.K. has some serious anti-libel and slander laws, and it’s pretty much a foregone conclusion given all Elon has said on the record that he has no chance in hell to win. I would guess there will be a settlement at some point, unless Unsworth wants to draw it out... which he might.
The amusing thing about Musk is, assuming he loses and has to pay a couple millions in a settlement...
...it still won't be the most expensive time he ran his mouth on twitter, said false things, and had to pay a big settlement that year.
(Musk had to pay a $20m fine to the SEC for making fraudulent statements on Twitter. Musk is on record that the fine was "worth it". And I guess if you're billions, maybe a really satisfactory tweet really is worth a few million.)
Yeah, but Musk presumably does travel a lot, and again presumably can’t afford to never show up in the U.K. again. Practically speaking if he loses, he’ll have to pay.
No extradition for civil judgments, so no. In principle, the successful litigant could seize any assets Musk had within reach of the UK to pay the judgment. Not sure how straightforward that would be, as it'd depend on how Musk's finances are structured and how much he travels.
That's right. Truth is not a defense at all in defamation cases. If your intent was to embarass or defame then even if what you said was true you can be convicted and do time.
Not sure if the case could be filed in Thailand. But if it was, Musk would be convicted for sure. The rescuers are all heroes in Thailand and what Musk said was very offensive and designed to do nothing other than defame the rescuer. Nothing would come of a conviction as long as Musk never visited Thailand again since nowhere would extradite him.
Musk is trying to get the case dismissed as being just a big joke, after he repeatedly challenged Unsworth to sue him.