Can Paul Pelosi sue Elon Musk for his false, now deleted tweet?

[Roetdoe]

Elon Musk said Paul Pelosi met his attacker at a gay bar, which is a lie.
Does the fact that Musk deleted the Tweet make him immune to a lawsuit?
I hope Paul has standing and sues the bejesus out of him.

[leftieNanner]

1. And Mr. Pelosi

Can certainly afford some serious lawyers.

I hope he does.

[JohnSJ]

4. I am sure any good lawyer would do it on contingency

[ProfessorGAC]

45. Given The Depth Of The Defendant's Pockets...

...I lean hard toward your opinion.

[CatWoman]

22. HERE, HERE!!!!

[blueinredohio]

35. I hope he does sue him.

[JohnSJ]

2. There would be a lot of people on that list, including Greenwald who has also been

making reckless statements

[Roetdoe]

9. Well, Greenwald loves Alex Jones so he's a fan of defamation

I hope he goes down too.

[Cha]

16. greenwald is Such a Stupid Shithole..

I remember when he was so defended by Dems.. and I was calling him out for being a RF.

[JohnSJ]

20. He sure is

[Casady1]

34. I read about 4 of his

Articles when he first made his appearance on DU and I thought this guy is full of sh*t.

[Cha]

40. Yeah, so did I. nt

[JohnSJ]

42. He sure is

[CatWoman]

23. Dinesh D'souza as well

[joshcryer]

29. Of course Greenwald is pushing the jilted gay lover angle.

Cracks me up.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

41. You sue people with deep pockets. That excludes Greenwald.

[True Blue American]

3. Whooie!

I am sure the Pelosis have a good Attorney.

[LeftInTX]

8. They likely will not sue

Elected officials rarely sue for defamation. I think Trump threatened, but he didn't. The Pelosis won't sue

[Roetdoe]

11. Paul Pelosi isn't an elected official

As far as I know.

[LeftInTX]

13. But will he want to sue???

[Roetdoe]

15. We don't know

No way to know.

[brush]

21. But Paul Pelosi is not an elected official.

[Emile]

5. I would love to be a juror on that trial!

[Boomerproud]

6. Wouldn't hold my breath. The Clintons have been lied about

for 30 years and they're the ones that get sued.

[LeftInTX]

12. Politicians with integrity usually don't waste their time.

[ProudMNDemocrat]

7. That would surely fall under Libel.

Which is more a Civil matter.

[bullimiami]

26. and its the richest idiot of the world and owner of the platform it was posted on.

surely that is not your typical libel and defamation.

[no_hypocrisy]

10. I'd volunteer my services to the Pelosis.

I have dedicated most of my professional life to worthy pro bono work.

[hlthe2b]

14. He walked the line between stating the posted link was true and merely questioning it...

So, all he would be "guilty" of (beyond the hackneyed immorality and stupidity) is disseminating someone else's false statement. So, no, not him individually. They could try but it would not succeed.

I think there will come a time when disseminating knowingly false content by a "publisher," owner, or other managing but non-creator of said content may result in some regulatory actions. Sen. Amy Klobucher has hinted at such if we retain any power in the Senate. But, he's exempt (as all the others) for this now.
Google Section 230 c (2) of the Communications Decency Act.

[True Blue American]

17. But read that list of advertisers.

Last edited Sun Oct 30, 2022, 06:41 PM - Edit history (1)

Capitol One is Walmart. I understand big names are deleting their accounts.

If he lets Trump come back I predict a flood of deletes.

[hlthe2b]

18. That gives me hope.

[CatWoman]

25. ....

Link to tweet

[kimbutgar]

19. He should that is the most ridiculous theory ever !

Mr. Pelosi was probably asleep and the alarm went off in his house and he called 9-11 got a hammer and comforted the guy.

[diane in sf]

24. The guy broke in with the hammer and zip ties.

[CentralMass]

27. In any event it's another reminder of what an asshole he is

[Initech]

28. There's some absolutely vicious trolling on Twitter right now because of that bullshit conspiracy.

Fuck I hate conspiracies and conspiracy theorists.

[CentralMass]

32. Musk bought himself a $44 billion shit storm maker and HD can stir rhe shit all by himself.

[exboyfil]

30. Is Paul Pelosi considered a public figure?

His wife is but is he.

I hope he does sue. Without foundation it sure sounds like actual malice anyway.

It seems to me that the Santa Monica Observer and its "editors" need a lawsuit. They have been a loose cannon for a while.

[onenote]

37. He would be considered an "involuntary public figure"

While there are some cases that suggest a heightened burden of proof in a defamation case brought by an "involuntary public figure" the better view is that he would not be required to meet that heightened burden of proof.

[muriel_volestrangler]

31. Since Musk called a hero a pedophile on Twitter, didn't withdraw it, got sued, and won

then it would seem pointless to try (that was in a federal court in California). If accusing someone of one of the most serious crimes there is is OK in the eyes of some Californians on a jury, then accusing someone of cheating on their wife, and quickly withdrawing it, is bound to be ignored.

[Zeitghost]

33. He can sue

But it would be a waste of money. He would likely be ruled a public figure, making a defamation case extremely hard to win. But even if he wasn't, Musk's comments were stated as "a tiny possibility this might be true" and Pelosi would have a hard time showing damages from a quickly deleted tweet.

His tweet was horrible, but it would not meet the standards of defamation. Musk would also respond with his own highly paid legal team and the end result would be a lot of money spent on lawyers for nothing.

[onenote]

38. Pelosi would only be an "involuntary public figure"

But I agree that it would still be difficult for him to successfully sue Musk for defamation.

[LeftInTX]

39. The Pelosis are too smart to put themselves through

something like this.

[brooklynite]

36. He won't...

[True Blue American]

43. Does not matter

Elon made himself a laughing stock. What do you think this will do to Twitter? Most have already decided that. Like Facebook.

[Hekate]

44. Sue the richest man in the world? When you're an old man grievously wounded? Spend the rest...

…of your life pursuing that?

People often fantasize about people suing common enemies for this or that reason — but seldom do it themselves. I don’t wonder why.