Tesla is currently facing a class-action complaint after its employees shared sensitive videos and images of customers, which were taken by car cameras and exchanged via an internal messaging system. On Friday, Henry Yeh, a California resident who owns a Model Y, filed a lawsuit against Tesla on behalf of himself and all other US residents who have leased or owned a Tesla in the last four years.
The lawsuit claims that Tesla’s cameras have recorded people in their homes, garages, and on their property, including instances where individuals were naked. In addition, the company allegedly shared videos and images of customers’ pets and children, groups that society recognizes as being susceptible to exploitation and manipulation. The lawsuit emphasizes that parents’ interest in their children’s privacy is one of the most fundamental liberty interests recognized by society.
Yeh’s lawyers alleged that Tesla employees have been accessing images since 2019 “not for the stated purposes of communication, fulfillment of services, and enhancement of Tesla vehicle driving systems,” but rather “for the tasteless and tortious entertainment of Tesla employees, and perhaps those outside the company, and the humiliation of those surreptitiously recorded.”
The lawsuit also states that Tesla employees used pictures of customers’ pets to create memes with added captions or commentary before sharing them in group chats. While some posts were limited to a few employees, others were seen by “scores” of Tesla workers. Given the prevalence of this kind of behavior in internet culture, it’s likely that some of these images and videos were shared outside of the company as well.
Yeh filed the complaint in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, and he’s being represented by two law firms, Fitzgerald Joseph and Blood Hurst & O’Reardon, that specialize in consumer protection class actions.
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