U.S. electric vehicle company Tesla has been accused by a whistleblower of failing to adequately protect the information of customers, employees, and partners.
On the 26th (local time), major foreign media outlets reported these claims based on materials provided by a Tesla whistleblower the previous day.
The approximately 100-gigabyte (GB) data contained a large amount of Tesla customer personal information, along with email addresses, phone numbers, salaries, and bank account details of more than 100,000 current and former employees. Handelsblatt reported that the materials included internal confidential information as well as the social security number of Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
Foreign media analyzed that this could be seen as a violation of the European Union (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which restricts the transfer of personal data overseas.
If authorities launch an investigation and prove Tesla's GDPR violations, Tesla could face fines of up to 4% of its annual revenue, approximately 3.26 billion euros (about 4.6 trillion Korean won).
The documents reportedly also included thousands of customer complaints related to Tesla's driver assistance program. Many of these complaints concerned sudden acceleration and unexplained sudden braking of the vehicles, foreign media reported.
Foreign media added that Tesla's lawyer mentioned the possibility of legal action, suggesting that the data leak might have been caused by a "former employee dissatisfied with the company."
The Dutch authorities, where Tesla's European headquarters are located, stated on the 26th that they are aware of the possibility of Tesla's information protection violations. A spokesperson for the Dutch data protection authority said, "We are aware of the Handelsblatt report and are reviewing it."
In response, Tesla has not yet issued any significant statement.
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