Tesla Creates Account On Weibo So Chinese Customers Can 'Tell Right From Wrong'

Tesla may not be an experienced car maker with decades of innovation and experience, but it's quick and big entrance to the car industry with its electric cars has disrupted the fossil fuel-guzzling car business that the company has somehow rewritten the history book.

Just like all cars out there, fossil-fuel powered or electric, Tesla cars can have problems. Cars are after all, made by humans (and robots), and there could be flaws in their designs or in the process of their manufacturing.

But sometimes, when nothing was wrong, some people seem to have fun by creating defamation.

And Tesla does not like that.

Its legal department at Tesla China somehow managed to make a number of Tesla owners to give a public apology on TikTok for creating such false defamation.

One customer for example, apologized in a video, in which he revoked his previous “claims.”

In his apology, the owner of a Tesla Model X admitted that his car never had any brake issue whatsoever over the three years he’s owned the vehicle, saying that the stunt was for entertainment purposes only.

Attacks against Tesla notably started following Tesla’s embarrassing moment at the 2021 Shanghai Auto Show, where two protesters accused the company of brake failure.

The Tesla owner, wearing a t-shirt that reads Brake Lost Control, was dragged away from the venue and detained for five days for her protest during the Shanghai Auto Show.

At the time, one woman was seen climbing on top of a Tesla vehicle on the show, and started alleging that her car had defective brakes. The demonstrator wore a white T-shirt emblazoned with a Tesla logo and the words "brake failure" — was later pulled away by security.

For its part, Tesla dismissed the protest, by calling her a "widely known" troublemaker and claimed that her car did not have any issues.

Since then, the company's legal department has become more sensitive and assertive when dealing with false information.

Among the ways to limit the spread of false information, Tesla started censoring social media posts and media outlets which shared inaccurate reports.

By limiting their spread, Tesla hopes that it can stop the false defamation posts from damaging its sales.

China is a strong market, and one of the largest for Tesla. In 2020, China accounted to about 30% of its total car sales.

According to statistics from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA), that Tesla sold 25,845 electric vehicles in April in the Chinese market, down 27.15% from March's 35,478 vehicles.

And as for what Tesla claimed as false defamation, there are plenty of of people in China that started apologizing.

Another way to make sure people know that Tesla is taking things like this seriously, the company has opened an account on Sina Weibo.

Through the "Tesla legal department" account, on China's equivalent of Twitter, the company wants to tackle false claims that may create uncertainty and doubts over Tesla’s products.

The account was registered and operated by Tesla Shanghai, and falls into the category of automobile transportation. An introduction to the account said "think independently and tell right from wrong."

The set up of this legal account has gone viral on the Chinese social media, and raised sensation among Chinese netizens.

"Is Tesla trying to educate and popularize basic knowledge of the law to its clients?" said one user.

"If you keep protesting will we be contacted by their lawyer" commented another.

"In terms of independent thinking, saying Tesla is good is independent thinking, otherwise it is framing the company," said another.

Before having this account, Tesla has been processing customer complaints and disputes through the official account of Tesla customer support.