Tesla CEO Elon Musk appeared in a San Francisco federal court on Friday to defend tweets he posted to his tens of millions of followers in August 2018.

The tweets said he had "funding secured" to take his electric vehicle company private for $420 per share, and that "investor support" for such a deal was "confirmed."

Daniel Taylor, director of the Wharton Forensics Analytics Lab and professor at the University of Pennsylvania, analyzed every trade in Tesla stock occurring on Aug. 7, 2018, the day that Musk tweeted.

Some of the plaintiffs in the trial that's underway claim that Musk's "funding secured" tweets were intended to put upward price pressure on Tesla's stock driving a so-called "short squeeze."

Tesla CEO Elon Musk was in court on Friday defending past tweets regarding plans to take his company private, a deal that never materialized.

In his August 2018 tweets, Musk said he had "funding secured" to take the electric vehicle maker private at $420 per share, and that "investor support" for such a deal was "confirmed."