Elon Musk seeks to dismiss 'paedo' lawsuit as 'schoolyard spat'

Musk's remarks described as 'imaginative attacks' and 'speculative insults' protected by the First Amendment

(AP)

Elon Musk has cited the First Amendment in seeking to dismiss a lawsuit brought against him by a British diver, who the entrepreneur called "pedo guy" on Twitter.

Vernon Unsworth sparked a war of words with Mr Musk during the attempted rescue of 12 Thai school boys and their soccer coach trapped in a cave earlier this year. The cave diver described Mr Musk's efforts to build a rescue submarine as a "PR stunt" with "absolutely no chance of working."

In an interview on CNN in July, Mr Unsworth said: "He can stick his submarine where it hurts."

Mr Musk responded by insinuating that the British diver, who was assisting with rescue efforts, had travelled to Thailand looking for a "child bride."

In September, Mr Unsworth sued Mr Musk for libel and slander, seeking $75,000 in damages. Separate lawsuits were also filed in English and Welsh courts.

"Elon Musk falsely accused Vern Unsworth of being guilty of heinous crimes,” Mr Unsworth’s lawyer, Lin Wood, said in a statement at the time. “Musk’s influence and wealth cannot convert his lies into truth or protect him from accountability for his wrongdoing in a court of law.”

Lawyers for the Tesla and SpaceX CEO filed a motion claiming his statements amounted to a "schoolyard spat on social media" and were therefore not actionable.

"A statement is one of objective fact only if the reasonable reader would believe that the speaker possesses underlying information to support it," the motion states.

"Here, the reasonable reader would not have believed that Musk – without having ever met Unsworth, in the midst of a schoolyard spat on social media, and from 8,000 miles afar – was conveying that he was in possession of private knowledge that Unsworth was sexually attracted to children or engaged in sex acts with children."

The submarine that was developed by employees at Tesla and SpaceX to assist with the cave rescue (Elon Musk via AP)

The motion goes on to describe Mr Musk's remarks as "imaginative attacks" and "speculative insults," which are protected by the First Amendment.

To support this position, the document also notes the fact that Mr Musk's statements were written with "a great deal of linguistic informality," making use of colloquialisms, shorthand and curse words.

Mr Unsworth's lawyer responded to the motion by telling media he was confident the case would move forward.

"I entirely reject Mr Musk's frivolous contention that all statements published on Twitter or other social media are protected speech," he said. "I am confident the trial court will likewise reject this fanciful position."