Elon Musk asked a federal judge to scrap restrictions imposed by US securities regulators on his Twitter habits, complaining that they were unfairly forced onto him following a flap over a September 2017 tweet about taking Tesla private.

In a Tuesday court filing, the billionaire Tesla CEO asked to terminate a 2018 consent decree with the Securities and Exchange Commission that has required his tweets about the electric car maker and its business be vetted by a company lawyer.

In a sworn declaration, Musk claimed he was “forced” to sign the SEC truce that settled the flap over his now-infamous Aug. 7, 2018 tweet in which he claimed he had “funding secured” to take Tesla private at $420 a share.

After the SEC filed its complaint in September 2018 against Tesla, Musk alleges he learned several of the company’s largest shareholders could cede their ownership in Tesla, substantially impacting Tesla’s financing if the case wasn’t settled expediently.

“I entered into the consent decree for the immediate survival of Tesla,” Musk wrote in the declaration.

Musk added that at the time of the controversial tweet he was in fact considering taking Tesla private at $420 a share, funding was secured and there was investor support, according to the Tuesday filing.

“I never lied to shareholders. I would never lie to shareholders. I entered into the consent decree for the survival of Tesla, for the sake of the shareholders,” Musk wrote.

Attorneys for Musk said at the time the $420 price tag was a pot joke to impress his then-girlfriend, indie rocker Grimes. Musk is now facing SEC pressure because he could be breaking the consent decree that has no expiration date.

The SEC served Tesla with a fresh subpoena in mid-November, not long after Musk launched a Twitter poll over whether he should sell 10% of his stake in the company, Tesla said in a public filing.

Last month, Musk laid out an argument in Federal court that the SEC had failed to distribute to Tesla investors $40 million in cash penalties he and the company had paid as part of the settlement.

Musk also in a largely redacted filing in a California class action suit gave details of the proposed take-private transaction showing he was not lying about the take-private transaction.