As a basic rule, celebrating the misfortunes of somebody is unseemly. However when that particular person is billionaire Elon Musk, let’s do that. The previous week has not been terrific for each Tesla and X, and it couldn’t occur to a worse dude.
Final Friday, a Florida jury slapped Musk’s electrical automotive firm, Tesla, with a $243 million verdict in a wrongful dying lawsuit introduced by the household of a girl killed due partly to Tesla’s glitchy Autopilot self-driving software program. The Tesla driver dropped his cellphone and reached all the way down to seize it, letting Autopilot take over. The Tesla promptly blew by means of an intersection at over 60 miles per hour and crashed into an SUV, killing Naibel Benavides and severely injuring her boyfriend.
In fact, Tesla is being exceedingly dramatic concerning the verdict, saying that it “works to set back automotive safety and jeopardize Tesla’s and the entire industry’s efforts to develop and implement lifesaving technology.” In fact, that’s a bizarre assertion to make when your “lifesaving technology” seems to have been concerned in somebody’s dying.
Usually, the federal government performs a regulatory function right here, investigating the protection of automobiles. Nonetheless, as soon as Trump took workplace and Musk burrowed in as the top of the so-called Division of Authorities Effectivity, most of these investigations had been anticipated to simply go away.
Although who is aware of what is going to occur now that Musk and Trump have fallen out. Final month, Trump stated he wished Musk’s companies to “thrive.” Nonetheless, Tesla’s launch of self-driving taxis in Austin, Texas, went so poorly that the Nationwide Freeway Site visitors Security Administration is trying into the taxis’ myriad issues, together with a penchant for reportedly veering into oncoming visitors. Appears dangerous!
Demonstrators protest towards Elon Musk outdoors a Tesla dealership in Kansas Metropolis, Missouri, on April 12.
Typically, Tesla has dodged these kinds of lawsuits or prevailed in court docket. However now there’s a template for future settlements to be dearer. In different phrases, the corporate might must up the quantity it’s keen to pay to settle or face a nine-figure jury verdict.
Sadly, whereas this hurts Tesla, the board nonetheless desires to bathe Musk with cash for … what precisely? He simply acquired 96 million new shares, price roughly $29 billion.
It’s not simply Tesla having a darkish day, although let’s all take a second to interact in some pointing and laughing about how the jury verdict brought about Tesla’s inventory to fall. In the meantime, over on the ninth U.S. Circuit Court docket of Appeals, issues usually are not going nice for Musk’s social media platform, X. The court docket dominated that whereas X can’t be held liable if it fails to take away little one intercourse abuse materials instantly, the corporate may face negligence claims going ahead for not reporting such materials to the Nationwide Heart for Lacking and Exploited Kids and for not having a straightforward means for customers to flag posts. Mainly, as soon as X is conscious of that materials on the platform, it has a authorized responsibility to report it to NCMEC, not that Musk is basically into following legal guidelines.
This has been an issue since Musk took over X in October 2022.
In 2023, the Stanford Web Observatory reported that Twitter (as X was then identified) failed to handle 40 CSAM objects over two months. For Musk, although, posting CSAM isn’t actually a dealbreaker. He reinstated the account of right-wing conspiracy theorist Dominick McGee after McGee’s account had posted a picture taken from one of many worst, most violent little one abuse movies on the market. However hey, McGee claims he did it to lift consciousness! Musk tried to wave this away by saying solely folks on X’s security staff noticed McGee’s submit, but it surely truly acquired 3 million views and eight,000 reposts, in response to The Washington Put up.
In fact, McGee now will get to go to White Home press briefings, and we are able to all thank Musk for that.
There needs to be penalties for turning X right into a Nazi bar that aids the exploitation of youngsters, and the ninth Circuit gave a roadmap on how to do this. There also needs to be penalties for Tesla’s obvious refusal to make its automobiles safer. That Florida jury verdict may get diminished on attraction, but it surely nonetheless places Tesla on discover that going to trial will not be the best thought.
And something that makes Musk’s life more durable and dearer, we’re right here for it.
