<div><span style="font-size: 1rem;">A US judge has ordered that Twitter's lawsuit against Elon Musk go to trial in October, a blow to the world's richest man who had asked for a delay.</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Mr Musk walked away from his $44bn (£36bn) bid to buy Twitter earlier in July, prompting the company to sue him.</div><div><br></div><div>Twitter hopes that the court will order Mr Musk to complete the takeover at the agreed price of $54.20 per share.</div><div><br></div><div>The tech billionaire has accused Twitter of withholding information about fake accounts.</div><div><br></div><div>His legal team has called for the trial to be held early next year due to its complexities, but Twitter asked for a September date.</div><div><br></div><div>On Tuesday, a judge in the state of Delaware agreed with the company and said a delay to the trial would cast a "cloud of uncertainty".</div><div><br></div><div>"Delay threatens irreparable harm," Chancellor Kathaleen St Jude McCormick said. "The longer the delay, the greater the risk."</div><div><br></div><div>The lawsuit accused Mr Musk of a "long list" of violations ahead of the potential merger and argued that he had "cast a pall" over the company.</div><div><br></div><div>At the hearing on Tuesday, Twitter's lead counsel William Savitt said the ongoing uncertainty about whether the takeover would go forward or not "inflicts harm on Twitter everyday".</div><div><br></div><div>To buy or not to buy?</div><div><br></div><div>Analysis box by James Clayton, North America technology reporter</div><div>There is a theory that Musk still wants to buy Twitter, he's just trying to knock down the price.</div><div><br></div><div>If that's the case, his lawyers are spectacularly good poker players.</div><div><br></div><div>Mr Musk's legal team wanted this trial to happen next year.</div><div><br></div><div>They claimed they needed more time to dig through data on spam accounts. Clearly though this is also a stalling strategy.</div><div><br></div><div>They repeated Mr Musk's assertion that Twitter may have more fake accounts than it claims.</div><div><br></div><div>That is a hugely damaging accusation - and a strange thing to say if Mr Musk were still interested in purchasing the company at a lower price.</div><div><br></div><div>Twitter's reputation has already taken a huge hit. Twitter's revenues are almost entirely based on ads. The fewer real people on the platform, the less money it can make. Bots don't have wallets.</div><div><br></div><div>That's why Twitter wants this process sorted quickly. By far the best case scenario for the company is that Mr Musk buys it for $54.20 a share - and that it happens as soon as possible.</div><div><br></div><div>That's why this judgement is good news for Twitter. The judge sided with Twitter's lawyers - that a ruling needed to be reached quickly.</div><div><br></div><div>It heaps more pressure on Mr Musk, who is faced with the bizarre prospect of having to buy a company he no longer wishes to acquire.</div><div><br></div><div>However, in practice this will likely put more pressure on Mr Musk to settle, pay Twitter some money, and move on.</div><div><br></div><div>"Musk has been and remains contractually obligated to use his best efforts to close the deal," Mr Savitt said. "What he's doing is exactly the opposite. It's sabotage."</div><div><br></div><div>A lawyer for Mr Musk, Andrew Rossman, argued that he remains one of Twitter's most significant shareholders. He said the case should go to trial next year on a "sensible" schedule that would give both sides time to prepare.</div><div><br></div><div>Since Mr Musk began questioning the number of fake and spam accounts on Twitter's platform in May, the company has seen its share prices fall from highs of $50 per share.</div><div><br></div><div>The company's shares currently stand at about $39.45 - well below the $54.20 per share at which it hopes to close the merger.</div><div><br></div><div>A self-described "free speech absolutist", Mr Musk has vowed to ease restrictions on content if the company were under his ownership.</div><div><br></div><div>He has also called for the company to be more open about how it presents tweets to users and how tweets are promoted to larger audiences. -bbc</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/TR</div><div><br></div>