In a continuing legal battle between Elon Musk and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), a federal judge has ordered the Tesla and SpaceX CEO to testify for a third time in the probe into his takeover of Twitter, now known as X. The order, issued by U.S. magistrate judge Laurel Beeler on Saturday night, came after Musk failed to appear before the SEC on the scheduled date.

According to the order, Musk "did not appear" and is resisting the subpoena on the grounds that the SEC's investigation is baseless and harassing, seeking irrelevant information. The SEC had sued Musk in October to compel him to cooperate in its probe of the $44 billion Twitter takeover. However, Musk believes that the regulator has leaked information to the media, which has led to his reluctance to appear before them.

This is not the first time Musk has been forced to testify before the SEC. In 2022, he was compelled to testify twice over his delayed disclosure of his Twitter stake. Musk now argues that a third subpoena amounts to "harassment." He joins other tech giants in his frequent run-ins with the government, such as his failed attempt to stop the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) from overseeing X's handling of users' private data in November last year. Musk referred to the outcome as a "shameful case of weaponization of a government agency for political purposes and suppression of the truth."

Musk's troubles with the SEC began in 2018 when he tweeted, "Funding secured," in an attempt to take Tesla from public to private ownership. Regulators argued that this breached security laws. As a result, Musk agreed that Tesla could oversee his tweets, only to be sued again for breaching their agreement.

In response to the latest order, Musk has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review the agreement, claiming that it violates his constitutional right to free speech. However, the federal judge's order now gives the SEC and Musk a week to agree on a date and location for the interview. If they cannot reach an agreement, Judge Beeler will hear from both sides and make a decision on their behalf.