Despite calling himself a 'free speech absolutist,' Elon Musk has a history of retaliation against employees and critics
The Tesla CEO, who has previously
referred to himself as a "free speech absolutist," has a track record of silencing critics with threats of lawsuits and firing employees who disagree with him.
"Seems @elonmusk is a free speech absolutist… unless it involves safety concerns IMO,"
tweeted John Bernal,
a former Tesla employee who was fired after he posted YouTube reviews of Tesla's autopilot functions on his channel,
AI Addict.
Bernal's video reviews contained only end-user features and
included footage of the car's autopilot disengaging, which caused Bernal to take control to avoid dangerous situations, including a possible crash.
Bernal's firing is not the only example of Musk taking action against public criticism. In one instance,
Fast Company reported that Musk found the identity of a would-be anonymous blogger who posted a negative stock analysis of Tesla and contacted their employer, threatening to sue, according to the blogger.
The poster
deactivated his social media accounts and stopped posting about Tesla altogether.
In another incident,
a journalist who had been critical of the Tesla Model X launch event was called by Musk personally and had their order for a Model X canceled.
Former employees have reported being fired for disagreeing with the CEO,
for reporting racist harassment, or for simply
being in his way.
Tesla's chief executive, Elon Musk, calls himself a 'free speech absolutist' despite leveraging lawsuits and firings to silence employees and critics.
www.businessinsider.com
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