Did Tesla remotely deactivate a Cybertruck in the midst of a freeway as a result of the proprietor featured it in an unauthorized music video? It’s extremely unlikely.
On Sunday, Instagram consumer @bighuey313 posted a video of his supposed deactivated Cybertruck, full with a flashing purple warning message on the truck’s primary touchscreen. “Canine wtf my cybertruck simply shut off on the freeway! 😡” he wrote within the caption. “Virtually simply crashed wtf @teslamotors.”
The proprietor additionally posted an image of what he claimed was a cease-and-desist letter from Tesla’s vice chairman of authorized affairs, Dinna Eskin. The letter cites “unauthorized use of Tesla’s mental property in musical content material distributed underneath your identify.”
The video shortly went viral on BlueSky, the place anti-Elon Musk sentiment has helped gas nationwide protests in opposition to Tesla. However customers shortly seen quite a lot of discrepancies, corresponding to the truth that the letter opens “We characterize Tesla” regardless of being signed by the corporate’s in-house counsel. The letter additionally makes use of Eskin’s outdated title, “Sr. Director and Deputy Basic Counsel,” despite her current title of VP. And the warning message isn’t formatted like Tesla’s typical in-vehicle alerts and notifications. An X user speculated that the flashing purple title was possible only a YouTube video enjoying on fullscreen to simulate a professional error.
Regardless of these points, the video went viral on BlueSky, X, and Reddit — and certain will proceed to journey far and huge, confirming many individuals’s prior opinions about Tesla and Elon Musk.