Elon Musk's private chats may put him in legal trouble with Twitter once more. In preparation for an October trial that will decide the fate of the transaction, attorneys for the two parties once again squared off in Delaware's Court of Chancery.

Musk's usage of the secure messaging software Signal was one of the topics discussed throughout the hearing's more than three hours lengthy duration. A snapshot of a conversation between Musk and Jared Birchall, the head of Musk's family office, is used by Twitter's lawyers to support their argument that Musk has been suppressing messages exchanged through the app.

The communication made mention of Morgan Stanley, Marc Andreesen, and 'a conversation concerning EU regulatory approval' of Musk's agreement with Twitter, according to Twitter's legal team. The interaction was captured on screen, according to Twitter's legal team, after Musk and Birchall denied using Signal to discuss the purchase. The mail was configured to automatically delete, as the screenshot demonstrated.

Twitter's attorneys also brought up 'a missing text message' between Elon Musk and Larry Ellison, the head of Oracle, who was supposed to be a co-investor in the Twitter purchase. The morning before Musk tweeted that the Twitter transaction was 'temporarily on hold,' Musk and Ellison were texting. The meaning of the texts is unclear, but Twitter's attorneys pointed out that Musk wrote to Ellison, saying 'interesting times,' before setting up a phone conversation with him.

Twitter's attorneys are pleading with the case's judge, Kathaleen St. J. McCormick, to punish Musk for the way his team handled Musk's messages. During the hearing, Twitter's attorneys stated, 'We do think that the moment has come for the court to apply a significant sentence.'

The Musk camp made an effort to minimise the importance of the Tesla CEO's usage of Signal. One of Musk's lawyers answered, 'Actually, there is no indication that we erased evidence. She remarked, 'Signal, you know, it seems like it's a sinister device.' 

In reality, several Twitter execs have admitted in court that they actually use Signal texting.

The existence of Signal messages between Jack Dorsey and board chair Bret Taylor was mentioned by Musk's attorneys, who also pointed out that current CEO Parag Agrawal had also provided Signal texts. It's fairly normal in Silicon Valley to use this platform, she said, adding that Signal is not some unusual mechanism.