Chinese bloggers claim they have been threatened with legal action by Tesla for posting negative content about the US carmaker, as it battles a wave of bad publicity in the world’s largest car market.
The electric vehicle company this month established an account on popular Chinese microblog Weibo for its legal department in China. Some users claimed the account was used to send them private messages warning of defamation lawsuits.
Public sentiment in China, one of Tesla’s biggest markets, has appeared to turn against the California-based automaker in recent months after a spate of controversies involving customer complaints about alleged vehicle malfunctions.