The data protection watchdog in the Netherlands is looking into potential data protection breaches by Tesla, following a report by Germany’s Handelsblatt. The report claimed that Tesla had failed to adequately protect confidential data, with a whistleblower leaking 100 gigabytes of information.
The Dutch agency has been informed by its German counterpart and is currently reviewing the situation, but no further details or comments have been provided at this stage.
The leaked data set, referred to as “Tesla Files,” allegedly contains customer data and confidential information about employees and business partners. The breach is described as “massive” by the data protection office in the German state of Brandenburg, which is home to Tesla’s European gigafactory. The Dutch authorities have several weeks to decide whether to handle the case as part of a European procedure.
If found guilty of violating the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Tesla could face fines of up to 4% of its annual sales, potentially amounting to 3.26 billion euros.
The revelations have raised concerns among German union IG Metall, which has called on Tesla to inform employees about all data protection violations and foster an open culture for reporting issues. Tesla has stated that a “disgruntled former employee” misused their access as a service technician, and the company intends to take legal action against the suspected leaker.
The leaked files reportedly contain thousands of customer complaints about Tesla’s driver assistance systems, including sudden acceleration and phantom braking incidents.
This news comes after a recent Reuters report highlighted how Tesla employees privately shared invasive videos and images recorded by customers’ car cameras between 2019 and 2022.
It also coincides with Facebook parent company Meta receiving a record 1.2 billion euro fine from the European Union privacy regulator for its handling of user information and being given a five-month deadline to cease transferring user data to the United States.
