Speaking on Saturday at the Chinese Development Forum, an annual event hosted by the Chinese government that connects the country with global business leaders, Musk clarified that sharing data with government entities of any sort would undermine Tesla’s business interests.
“Whether it’s Chinese or U.S., the negative effects if a commercial company did engage in spying — the negative effects for that company would be extremely bad,” Musk said. He added that the risk of Tesla being shut down for spying creates “a very strong incentive for us to be very confidential.”
The Chinese approach towards Tesla might be retribution in response to Trump’s decision to move against TikTok and demand its operations to be sold to US companies last year, rather than a legitimate fear of the company engaging in espionage. However, according to Reuters’ report, Chinese officials were willing to let TikTok shut down rather than have President Donald Trump force its sale in the U.S. TikTok also filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over the ban. The company claimed that Trump sought to ban the app for political reasons rather than security issues.
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Source: Mashable