Tesla President Elon Musk is confident that a large-scale conspiracy has been organized against his company, in which the largest American media are involved. An official press release from Musk's company claims that dishonest journalists are deliberately slandering the company's products in order to influence the value of Tesla's shares.
In June, The Daily Kanban published an article exposing the company's policy that Tesla silenced its customers about their car breakdowns. Each buyer of an electric car at the time of purchase allegedly had to sign a nondisclosure agreement about any malfunctions and the course of maintenance of his car. According to the material on the website, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration even organized an investigation into the case. Tesla representatives denied the attacks against them, making an official statement that none of their clients sign any agreements, and The Daily Kanban journalist Edward Niedermeier has simply disliked the company for a very long time and has been counting the days until it closes for several years.
The recent accident with an electric car under the control of autopilot added fuel to the fire with the history around Tesla. A lot of the media literally pounced on Elon Musk and the company he created. Musk himself emphasized in his Twitter that he was the victim of a carefully planned action against him and his company. He even cited the material in Fortune Magazine and called it a "blatantly commissioned article." Journalists pointed to the fact that Tesla recently sold two billion dollars worth of shares, increasing its capital, and only after that released information about the accident that resulted in the death of the driver.
On the other hand, Musk's suspicions have a very realistic basis. There may indeed be some kind of conspiracy against Tesla, led by billionaire brothers David and Charles Koch (with a combined fortune of $ 68 billion) who are openly opposed to the move to electric vehicles. Considering that the brothers are engaged in oil refining, it is easy to guess that the reduction of dependence on fossil fuels is not to their liking. Every now and then they are investing huge amounts of money to prove the absence of human influence on global warming. So why don't they invest a few million dollars to get rid of Elon Musk's company?
Elon Musk's position in this situation is quite understandable, but his openly aggressive behavior towards his offenders is not entirely clear. The head of such large companies as Tesla and Space X should not personally argue with his opponents on Twitter, because there are specially trained people for this. Maybe it's because of his hot temper that some of Tesla's big investors are pushing to distance Musk from running his own company. Meanwhile, Western media are discussing the second case of a car accident involving an electric car running on autopilot. This time, the driver and passenger survived, but what a wonderful occasion to discuss!