He was forced to buy Twitter, and he said as much in an interview:

Clayton: So then you change your mind again, and decided to buy it – did you do that? Did you do that?

Musk: Well, I kind of had to.

Clayton: Right. Did you do that, because you thought that a court would make you do that?

Musk: Yes.

Clayton: Right.

Musk: Yes, that is the reason.

Clayton: So you were still trying to get out of it. And then you just were advised by lawyers, “Look, you’re going to buy this?”

Musk: Yes.

So yeah, I do think he has some respect for the SEC.