Tesla shareholders Friday requested that a US district court block Elon Musk from his “public campaign to present a contradictory and false narrative” regarding Musk’s 2018 tweets about taking the company private. This request comes as part of an ongoing lawsuit the shareholders filed against Tesla and Musk.

On April 1, US District Court Judge Edward Chen reportedly ruled that Musk’s 2018 tweets, which claimed that Musk secured financing to take the company private at $420 per share, were “false and misleading” and made “recklessly . . . with knowledge as to their falsity.”

After Musk posted the tweets in 2018, Tesla’s stock halted at first. The shares were then volatile for the following weeks. The shareholders sued Tesla over money they lost after Musk made the 2018 tweets. Later, Musk said that there had been discussions regarding funding but a deal had not been materialized.

Musk claimed on Thursday that funding had actually been secured in 2018 to take Tesla private. Musk further explained that he paid fines and had a lawyer approve some of the tweets prior to posting them. This was after he settled with the Securities and Exchange Commission over what the US securities regulators considered to be false statements.  

The shareholders requested the court to block Musk from commenting on the tweets, as the jury trial is scheduled for May.

The filing argued that Musk’s comments on the tweets may potentially confuse jurors and prejudice a jury decision. Friday’s filing asserted that Musk “has used his fame and notoriety to sway public opinion in his favor, waging battle in the press having been defeated in the courtroom.”