Tesla has sued its own customers and journalists in China for defamation – and won just about every time. Elon Musk's company has pioneered an aggressive legal strategy there.

Zhang Yazhou was sitting in the passenger seat of her Tesla Model 3 when she said she heard her father’s panicked voice: The brakes don’t work! Approaching a red light, her father swerved around two cars before plowing into an SUV and a sedan and crashing into a large concrete barrier.

Stunned, Zhang gazed at the deflating airbag in front of her. She could never have imagined what was to come: Tesla sued her for defamation for complaining publicly about the car’s brakes — and won. A Chinese court ordered Zhang to pay more than $23,000 in damages and publicly apologize to the $1.1 trillion company.

      • NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io
        34·
        10 hours ago

        I mean okay and? What I’m trying to is that China is usually on the government dictatorship side of the spectrum so it’s weird that they’re suppressing free speech about a private—and foreign—government with no ties to Beijing.

        • PugJesus@lemmy.worldEnglish
          81·
          10 hours ago

          I mean okay and? What I’m trying to is that China is usually on the government dictatorship side of the spectrum so it’s weird that they’re suppressing free speech about a private—and foreign—government with no ties to Beijing.

          Tesla does massive amounts of business in China, what are you talking about? Their latest Chinese factory cost literal billions of dollars.

          Why would a government more on the ‘dictatorship side of the spectrum’ have any problem with suppressing free speech about their wealthy investors?

          • NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io
            24·
            9 hours ago

            No reason in hindsight, but it’s still out or character. At least to my knowledge they don’t typically do this sort of thing.