Tesla has pursued an unusually aggressive tactic in China to silence its critics.
As the Associated Press reports, the company has sued at least six Tesla owners in the country who reported sudden vehicle malfunctions, including unexplained brake failures, over the last four years. It also sued at least six bloggers and two Chinese media outlets who had criticized the Elon Musk-led company.
According to the AP, the carmaker won at least eleven of those cases, while two are on appeal and one was settled out of court. In contrast, not a single American Tesla owner has so far been sued by Tesla.
It’s an unusual and hostile tactic, with the AP suggesting that the EV maker has been leveraging the “patronage of powerful leaders in China’s ruling Communist Party to silence critics, reap financial rewards and limit its accountability.”
On an obvious level, the hypocrisy is astounding, with Musk publicly promoting himself as a “free speech absolutist” when it serves his agenda.
And it’s an even more pertinent topic now that Musk has installed himself as a key figure in the Trump administration, aiming his sights at regulators and the judicial system to clear the path for his carmaker.
That government influence appears to have extended to China, with journalists telling the AP that they had been told to avoid “negative coverage.” Tesla has also enjoyed cheap loans and tax breaks in the country.
Reports of brake failures affecting Tesla vehicles in China took off in 2021, sparking a fierce debate over whether the victims were inventing the mechanical failures to drum up support for the company’s competitors. Since then, we’ve seen several instances of Chinese owners issuing apologies on social media for claiming that their Teslas had faulty brakes, adding fuel to the debate.
It’s hard not to wonder: were the claims really faked, or did Tesla pull strings with the country’s authoritarian ruling party to force the apologies?
Tesla also holds control over its driving data, leaving the possibility that it could have changed the data to incriminate its critics.
The AP also found that car owners only won nine out of 81 civil judgments in China involving complaints over safety and quality issues or contract disputes.
“For Tesla to win that percentage of the time is an anomaly,” Automobility Ltd. founder Bill Russo told the agency. “The odds are stacked against you. It’s like going to the casino and winning every hand.”
Meanwhile, Musk has repeatedly met with former Communist Party boss and current premier of China Li Qiang, further highlighting the EV maker’s close relationship with the Asian nation.
Now that the richest man in the world has amassed a staggering degree of influence in the White House, safety advocates warn that any future criticisms against Tesla could similarly be stamped out.
“Tesla used their legal advantages to bully Chinese car owners and people who speak up for them,” Tesla owner Feng Shiming, who was ordered to pay $34,200 after writing about alleged brake failures, told the AP. “Tesla wants to have a chilling effect on society and terrify people so they will be scared to say anything negative about Tesla.”
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