RT News has reported that a judge has ordered Tesla CEO Elon Musk to testify under oath regarding specific claims he may have made about his company’s electric cars. This decision was made in response to Tesla’s legal team’s suggestion that statements attributed to Musk by plaintiffs in an ongoing lawsuit may have been produced using “Deepfake” technology. The ruling was issued on April 26 by Judge Evette Pennypacker in California and pertains to a lawsuit against Tesla regarding the death of Walter Huang in a 2018 car crash involving one of the company’s vehicles.
Elon Musk to appear in Tesla court hearing for ‘deepfake’ defence
The billionaire entrepreneur has been held responsible under the charge of exaggerating features on Tesla’s self-driving vehicles. The complainant of the case said that the claims have been misleading and that the self-driving features on Huang’s Tesla had failed, which resulted in an unfortunate incident, his death. Notably, at a conference in 2016, Musk has been alleged to make false claims that some models could “drive autonomously with greater safety than a person”. Now, the Twitter tycoon has been ordered to give a three-hour interview under oath regarding some of his past comments about Tesla cars and their ‘Autopilot’ capabilities. According to Judge Pennypacker, Tesla’s claims have been “deeply troubling”. Further, the judge stated that the company’s defence could make all of, Twitter chief, Musk’s press statements “immune” from legal scrutiny simply because he is “famous”. She also warned that the same arguments have allowed celebrities and public figures to “avoid taking ownership of what they did actually say and do”. However, it is to be noted that judge’s order has been tentative which means that another hearing would take place on Thursday to figure out if Musk would be deposed under oath.