“I care a great deal about retail investors,” Musk said. “They are our most loyal steadfast investors.”

Twitter Inc., which Musk bought in October, is the most “democratic” way to communicate, Musk said in court.

A defense attorney started off with plumbing Musk’s Twitter habits, and that Musk sometimes bristled at the implications his tweets may carry more meaning than he assigns them.

“Just because I tweet something, it does not mean people believe it, or act accordingly,” Musk said, giving as example another infamous tweet, in which he said Tesla stock was too high — and the stock then went higher.

This is a developing story.