Diver who rescued children from a cave in Thailand loses lawsuit against Elon Musk, who called him a 'pedophile'

A Los Angeles jury has ruled that Elon Musk's tweet calling British diver Vernon Unsworth a "pedophile" does not meet the criteria for libel. Musk therefore cannot be held liable, the jury has ruled.

After leaving the courtroom following the jury's decision, Musk told reporters that "his faith in humanity has been restored."

Unsworth filed a lawsuit against Musk in September 2018. Initially, he demanded $75,000 in moral damages from the founder of Tesla and SpaceX. The diver also asked to prohibit Musk from publishing posts with insults towards him in the future.

However, after the hearing began, a lawyer representing Unsworth said Musk should pay $190 million .

• Vern Unsworth participated in a rescue operation to rescue teenagers from a cave in Thailand in the summer of 2018. The operation lasted about two weeks and caused a great stir around the world. Musk suggested using a mini-submarine built by his company, but Unsworth publicly criticized the idea, after which the founder of Tesla and SpaceX called him a "pedophile" in a tweet. Musk later apologized to the diver on Twitter.