US regulator sued in October to compel Musk to testify as part of an investigation into his $44bn purchase of what is now known as X

Elon Musk has been ordered to testify again as part of an investigation by US regulators into his 2022 purchase of the social media platform Twitter, later renamed X.

A California federal court ruling released on Saturday gave the Tesla and SpaceX chief a week to agree with the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) on a date and place for the interview after Musk refused to attend a previous sit-down in September.

In the order, US magistrate judge Laurel Beeler said the parties had initially agreed to a date “but ultimately the respondent (Musk) did not appear and resists the subpoena on the grounds that the SEC’s investigation is baseless and harassing and seeks irrelevant information”.

The SEC sued Musk in October to compel him to testify as part of an investigation into his $44bn purchase of what is now known as X. The commission also seeks his testimony on whether he followed the law when filling out the required paperwork about Twitter stock purchases as well as whether his statements in relation to buying the platform were accurate.