The viral video of a ‘deactivated’ Tesla Cybertruck is most likely fake

Did Tesla remotely deactivate a Cybertruck successful the mediate of a road due to the fact that the proprietor featured it successful an unauthorized euphony video? It’s highly unlikely.

On Sunday, Instagram idiosyncratic @bighuey313 posted a video of his expected deactivated Cybertruck, implicit with a flashing reddish informing connection connected the truck’s main touchscreen. “Dog wtf my cybertruck conscionable unopen disconnected connected the freeway! 😡” helium wrote successful the caption. “Almost conscionable crashed wtf @teslamotors.”

The proprietor besides posted an image of what helium claimed was a cease-and-desist missive from Tesla’s vice president of ineligible affairs, Dinna Eskin. The missive cites “unauthorized usage of Tesla’s intelligence spot successful philharmonic contented distributed nether your name.”

The video rapidly went viral connected BlueSky, wherever anti-Elon Musk sentiment has helped substance nationwide protests against Tesla. But users rapidly noticed a fig of discrepancies, specified arsenic the information that the missive opens “We correspond Tesla” contempt being signed by the company’s in-house counsel. The missive besides uses Eskin’s aged title, “Sr. Director and Deputy General Counsel,” despite her existent rubric of VP. And the informing connection isn’t formatted similar Tesla’s emblematic in-vehicle alerts and notifications. An X user speculated that the flashing reddish rubric was apt conscionable a YouTube video playing connected fullscreen to simulate a morganatic error.

Despite these issues, the video went viral connected BlueSky, X, and Reddit — and apt volition proceed to question acold and wide, confirming galore people’s anterior opinions astir Tesla and Elon Musk.