Asana CEO Dustin Moskovitz has made serious allegations against Tesla, claiming the company has engaged in “consumer fraud on a massive scale.”
In a post on the social media platform Threads, Moskovitz, who co-founded Facebook, accused Tesla of deceptive practices similar to the Enron scandal.
Specifically, Moskovitz alleged that Tesla has misled consumers about its Full Self-Driving (FSD) software and the range of its vehicles.
He presented graphs from Tesla that he claims show the company is trying to artificially inflate the miles driven using FSD, which is critical for Tesla’s path to autonomous driving and robotaxis. Moskovitz went so far as to predict that “people are going to jail at the end” due to Tesla’s actions.
However, no Tesla executives have been charged with any crimes, and the company has not been found liable for consumer or securities fraud.
Projection https://t.co/I4GaMTUofC
— Adrian Dittmann (@AdrianDittmann) April 26, 2024
While Tesla has faced lawsuits and probes from regulators regarding its FSD technology and vehicle range claims, the company has mostly settled or been found not liable in these cases.
Moskovitz’s allegations come amid ongoing investigations by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Securities and Exchange Commission into Tesla’s Autopilot software and marketing practices. Drivers have also accused Tesla of inflating its vehicle range, leading to a class-action lawsuit, though a judge ruled the plaintiffs must go through individual arbitrations.
Moskovitz has long been skeptical of Tesla and its CEO, Elon Musk. Last year, he called for Musk to resign from all his executive roles, including at Tesla, after Musk endorsed an antisemitic post on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter).
Moskovitz has also questioned the true impact and valuation of Tesla and Musk’s other company, SpaceX, suggesting they may be “scams he got away with.”
In response to Moskovitz’s latest allegations, Musk took to X to hurl insults and a derogatory term at the Facebook co-founder, though he later apologized.
The ongoing tension between Moskovitz and Musk highlights the complex and contentious dynamics within the tech industry as prominent figures scrutinize each other’s claims and actions.
