Musk’s New Motion to Toss Twitter Investor Suit Doubted by Judge

A San Francisco federal judge at a Friday hearing appeared skeptical that Elon Musk can fully defeat an investor lawsuit claiming he fueled uncertainty about whether he would buy Twitter Inc. to drive down the stock price.

Musk’s attorneys argued that market investors were aware his flip-flopping position on purchasing the social media company in 2022 was an empty threat because they knew he was legally bound to purchase the company, which Musk has since renamed X.

The billionaire tech mogul offered to buy Twitter in April for $44 billion before announcing three weeks later he would ...