China’s government has barred key state-owned employees from driving Tesla vehicles.
The fear comes from the vehicles’ exterior cameras which are constantly recording.
There are countless videos online from Tesla vehicles. From vandalism to reckless driving and everything in between, Tesla cars and SUVs have the ability to record anything and everything in their immediate surroundings. And this is why the Chinese government has barred most state-owned company employees from owning one.
The ban, according to Market Watch, was issued some weeks ago but only went viral late last week. This is when Elon Musk found out about it and had this to say:
“There’s a very strong incentive for us to be very confidential with any information,” he said. “If Tesla used cars to spy in China or anywhere, we will get shut down.”
In fact, China is an enormous market for Tesla. About 30% of all its sales in 2020 were delivered in China. Musk further commented that this reaction is akin to that of Trump calling Tik Tok a threat to national security last year.
“The United States wanted to shut down TikTok. Luckily, it did not happen,” Musk said. “Many people were concerned about TikTok. But I think this kind of concern is unnecessary, and we should learn lessons from it.”