#buy a used tesla

[petergibson879748]

The Benefits of Buying a Used Tesla: Your Guide to Smart Choices

As the world shifts towards sustainability and eco-friendliness, electric vehicles (EVs) have gained significant traction, with Tesla leading the charge. While purchasing a brand-new Tesla often comes with a hefty price tag, buy a used tesla can be an intelligent and economical choice. This article delves into the many advantages of opting for a pre-owned Tesla, exploring factors such as cost savings, environmental impact, performance, and technological features that make these vehicles stand out in the automotive market.

Cost Savings: A Major Consideration

One of the most compelling reasons to consider a used Tesla is the substantial cost savings involved. New electric vehicles can be quite expensive, often exceeding $40,000 or $50,000 depending on the model and features. In contrast, used Teslas can provide significant savings, allowing buyers to enjoy the same high-quality electric driving experience without the steep price.

The depreciation of electric vehicles is noteworthy, especially for Teslas. Typically, a new car loses around 20% of its value within the first year and continues to depreciate over the following years. This trend is even more pronounced in the luxury electric vehicle segment. Therefore, by opting for a used Tesla, buyers can acquire a vehicle that has already undergone the bulk of its depreciation, enabling them to purchase a model that may have originally cost much more at a fraction of the price.

In addition to the lower sticker price, buyers can also save on insurance and taxes. Used vehicles often attract lower insurance premiums, which can further enhance the overall savings. Moreover, many states offer tax incentives for electric vehicle purchases, and these can sometimes apply even to used models, allowing buyers to maximize their financial benefits.

Environmental Impact: A Step Towards Sustainability

Opting for a used Tesla is not only a financially savvy decision but also a conscious step towards sustainability. The automotive industry is one of the leading contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, and by choosing an electric vehicle, buyers are actively participating in the movement to reduce their carbon footprint. While new Teslas certainly contribute to this effort, purchasing a used model extends the life of an existing vehicle, thereby reducing waste and the demand for new car production.

Electric vehicles, including Teslas, are known for their lower emissions compared to traditional gasoline-powered cars. By driving a used Tesla, owners can help decrease the overall environmental impact of transportation. Furthermore, Tesla's commitment to sustainability is evident in its manufacturing processes, which prioritize renewable energy and resource efficiency. By purchasing a used Tesla, buyers support a brand that champions eco-friendly practices.

Additionally, owning a Tesla can encourage the growth of the EV market. The more people who drive electric vehicles, the more infrastructure will develop to support them, such as charging stations and maintenance services. As the demand for EVs rises, manufacturers are motivated to innovate and improve upon their technology, leading to a more sustainable future for all.

Performance: Unmatched Driving Experience

When considering a used Tesla, one cannot overlook the exceptional performance that these vehicles offer. Tesla has built a reputation for its impressive acceleration, handling, and overall driving experience. The electric motors provide instant torque, resulting in rapid acceleration that rivals many sports cars. A used Tesla can deliver this exhilarating performance at a fraction of the cost of a new luxury sports car, making it an attractive option for driving enthusiasts.

Moreover, Tesla vehicles are equipped with advanced features such as Autopilot, which offers semi-autonomous driving capabilities. Even older models come with various driver-assist features that enhance safety and convenience. These features are often updated through over-the-air software updates, meaning that a used Tesla can continue to improve in performance and capabilities even after it has been sold. This commitment to innovation ensures that owners of used Teslas can enjoy cutting-edge technology without the need to buy the latest model.

The durability of Tesla vehicles is also noteworthy. Many used Teslas have been praised for their longevity, with the potential to last well beyond 300,000 miles with proper care. This reliability means that buyers can feel confident in their investment, knowing they are purchasing a vehicle designed to withstand the test of time.

Technological Features: A Leap into the Future

Tesla is synonymous with cutting-edge technology, and this extends to both new and used models. The company has always been at the forefront of automotive innovation, from its sophisticated infotainment systems to its comprehensive suite of safety features. When buyers choose a used Tesla, they are not just acquiring a vehicle; they are gaining access to a treasure trove of technology that enhances their driving experience.

The large touchscreen interface found in Tesla vehicles is a hallmark of the brand, offering a user-friendly experience that controls various functions, from navigation to climate settings. Even in older models, this interface is sleek, intuitive, and designed to minimize distractions. Buyers can appreciate the seamless integration of technology into the driving experience, making every journey more enjoyable.

Moreover, Tesla's commitment to software updates means that even used models can receive enhancements long after their initial sale. Features that were once exclusive to newer models can often be rolled out to older vehicles, ensuring that owners benefit from the latest advancements. This ongoing support exemplifies Tesla's dedication to customer satisfaction and innovation.

Conclusion: A Smart Choice for the Future

In conclusion, purchasing a used Tesla presents a multitude of benefits that make it a smart choice for environmentally-conscious, budget-savvy consumers. The cost savings associated with buying a used model can be substantial, allowing buyers to invest in a high-quality electric vehicle without breaking the bank. Additionally, the positive environmental impact of extending the lifecycle of existing vehicles aligns with the growing movement towards sustainability.

The unmatched performance and cutting-edge technology found in Teslas further enhance the appeal of buying used. With features that evolve through software updates and a driving experience that rivals many luxury vehicles, a used Tesla can offer exceptional value for money.

Ultimately, choosing a used Tesla is not merely a financial decision; it is a step toward a more sustainable future, an investment in innovative technology, and an opportunity to experience the thrill of electric driving. As the demand for electric vehicles continues to rise, making a smart choice today can lead to a brighter tomorrow for both the individual and the planet.

[darcyolsson]

sometimes i think ab how my sibling got the lifelong hyperfixation on coding which is prob going to make them a millionaire within 3 years after graduating (dont look that up) and i got the lifelong hyperfixation on a book series which i dont even like half of the time 💛 oh well. who needs a house when you have a MILDLY SUCCESFUL TUMBLR BLOG!!!!

[its-me-nikola-tesla]

Yes yes I am aware it's my birthday yay me 🙄

[etheralisi]

If you had the ability to go back in time and add something (writing, an object, etc.) to any location in any time for future archaeologists to find and be bewildered by, when and where and what would you add?

Ahaha! Now this is my kind of ask! Sorry for taking a while I wanted to give this sufficient thought.

I want these archaeologists baffled. I want them scratching their heads and coming up with such convoluted ways to explain its existence that conspiracy theorists sound like the sane ones by saying time travel.

So, naturally, to bamboozle them in the ways of religion I’ll leave behind this statue:

It speaks for itself.

As for where and when, a peat bog as far back as possible. Gotta keep it preserved, but have it authentically old. Just for that confusion.

Thanks for the ask!

[destielmemenews]

This team would cancel owner's service appointments and rig Tesla dashboards to display more "rosy" projections for how far users could drive before recharging.

source 1

source 2

[mossflower]

I DON’T WANT TO BUY ANYTHING YOU PIECE OF SHIT BROWSER

[wekillitwithfire]

its actually incredible how many free pianos there are on facebook marketplace

[ur-mag]

CyberBeer: How can I buy the Tesla drink? | In Trend Today

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[lighthouse-system]

Twitters making you pay for the least secure method of authentication lmao

When things like this arise, I must ask with genuine sincerity: Why are you still on Twitter?

[theabstruseone]

I slept in and just woke up, so here's what I've been able to figure out while sipping coffee:

Twitter has officially rebranded to X just a day or two after the move was announced.

The official branding is that a tweet is now called "an X", for which there are too many jokes to make.

The official account is still @twitter because someone else owns @X and they didn't reclaim the username first.

The logo is 𝕏 which is the Unicode character Unicode U+1D54F so the logo cannot be copyrighted and it is highly likely that it cannot be protected as a trademark.

Outside the visual logo, the trademark for the use of the name "X" in social media is held by Meta/Facebook, while the trademark for "X" in finance/commerce is owned by Microsoft.

The rebranding has been stopped in Japan as the term "X Japan" is trademarked by the band X JAPAN.

Elon had workers taking down the "Twitter" name from the side of the building. He did not have any permits to do this. The building owner called the cops who stopped the crew midway through so the sign just says "er".

He still plans to call his streaming and media hosting branch of the company as "Xvideo". Nobody tell him.

This man wants you to give him control over all of your financial information.

Edit to add further developments:

Yes, this is all real. Check the notes and people have pictures. I understand the skepticism because it feels like a joke, but to the best of my knowledge, everything in the above is accurate.

Microsoft also owns the trademark on X for chatting and gaming because, y'know, X-box.

The logo came from a random podcaster who tweeted it at Musk.

The act of sending a tweet is now known as "Xeet". They even added a guide for how to Xeet.

The branding change is inconsistent. Some icons have changed, some have not, and the words "tweet" and "Twitter" are still all over the place on the site.

TweetDeck is currently unaffected and I hope it's because they forgot that it exists again. The complete negligence toward that tool and just leaving it the hell alone is the only thing that makes the site usable (and some of us are stuck on there for work).

This is likely because Musk was forced out of PayPal due to a failed credit line project and because he wanted to rename the site to "X-Paypal" and eventually just to "X".

This became a big deal behind the scenes as Musk paid over $1 million for the domain X.com and wanted to rebrand the company that already had the brand awareness people were using it as a verb to "pay online" (as in "I'll paypal you the money")

X.com is not currently owned by Musk. It is held by a domain registrar (I believe GoDaddy but I'm not entirely sure). Meaning as long as he's hung onto this idea of making X Corp a thing, he couldn't be arsed to pay the $15/year domain renewal.

Bloomberg estimates the rebranding wiped between $4 to $20 billion from the valuation of Twitter due to the loss of brand awareness.

The company was already worth less than half of the $44 billion Musk paid for it in the first place, meaning this may end up a worse deal than when Yahoo bought Tumblr.

One estimation (though this is with a grain of salt) said that Twitter is three months from defaulting on its loans taken out to buy the site. Those loans were secured with Tesla stock. Meaning the bank will seize that stock and, since it won't be enough to pay the debt (since it's worth around 50-75% of what it was at the time of the loan), they can start seizing personal assets of Elon Musk including the Twitter company itself and his interest in SpaceX.

Sesame Street's official accounts mocked the rebranding.

[petergibson879748]

Your Guide to Buying a Pre-Owned Tesla: What You Need to Know

Buying a pre-owned electric vehicle (EV) can be an exciting and economically savvy decision, particularly when considering a Tesla. As one of the leading brands in the EV market, Tesla vehicles offer cutting-edge technology, impressive performance, and a unique driving experience. However, purchasing a pre-owned Tesla requires careful consideration and research to ensure you make an informed choice. This guide aims to provide you with essential information and tips to navigate the process effectively.

Understanding the Appeal of Pre-Owned Teslas

Tesla cars are renowned for their innovative features, including long-range capabilities, autopilot functionality, and frequent software updates that enhance performance and add new features over time. These attributes make them highly desirable even in the pre-owned market. Additionally, Tesla's strong brand reputation for quality and sustainability contributes to their value retention, making them a compelling choice for eco-conscious buyers.

Factors to Consider Before Purchasing

Battery Health and Range: One of the critical factors in buying any electric vehicle is the condition of its battery. Tesla vehicles use lithium-ion batteries that degrade over time, affecting the car's range and charging efficiency. When considering a pre-owned Tesla, inquire about the battery's health and any warranty coverage that remains.

Vehicle History and Maintenance: Obtain a comprehensive vehicle history report to understand its past ownership, service records, and any reported accidents. Teslas, like any other vehicle, require regular maintenance, so ensure the car has been well-maintained to avoid unexpected repairs.

Software and Hardware Updates: Tesla vehicles benefit from over-the-air software updates that improve performance, add new features, and enhance security. Check if the vehicle has received these updates and whether it is compatible with the latest software versions.

Charging Infrastructure: Evaluate the availability of charging stations in your area and consider installing a home charging solution if necessary. Tesla's Supercharger network provides fast charging capabilities, which is advantageous for long-distance travel.

Where to Buy a Pre-Owned Tesla

There are several avenues to explore when purchasing a pre-owned Tesla:

Tesla Certified Pre-Owned: Tesla offers a Certified Pre-Owned (CPO) program for selected vehicles, which undergo a rigorous inspection and come with extended warranty coverage. This option provides peace of mind with a manufacturer-backed guarantee of quality.

Third-Party Dealerships: Many dealerships specialize in pre-owned Tesla sales. Ensure they provide detailed vehicle histories and possibly a warranty to protect your investment.

Private Sellers: Buying directly from a private seller may offer more flexibility in negotiations but requires thorough inspection and verification of the vehicle's condition and history.

Inspection and Test Drive Tips

Before finalizing your purchase, conduct a thorough inspection and test drive:

Exterior and Interior: Check for any signs of wear, scratches, or dents. Inspect the interior for comfort, functionality of electronics, and signs of water damage.

Drive Performance: Take the Tesla for a test drive to assess its acceleration, braking, steering responsiveness, and overall driving experience. Pay attention to any unusual noises or vibrations.

Financing and Ownership Costs

Consider the total cost of ownership, including insurance, maintenance, and charging expenses. Tesla's high-tech components may result in higher repair costs, so factor this into your budget. Compare financing options and evaluate interest rates to find the most affordable solution.

Conclusion

Buying a used Tesla can be a rewarding experience, offering access to advanced electric vehicle technology at a lower price point than buying new. However, it's crucial to approach the process with thorough research and attention to detail. By understanding the vehicle's history, assessing its condition, and exploring your purchasing options, you can make a confident decision that aligns with your budget and driving needs. Whether you choose a certified vehicle from Tesla or a reputable third-party seller, investing time in due diligence will ensure you enjoy your Tesla ownership experience to the fullest.

[alpha-mag-media]

CyberBeer: How can I buy the Tesla drink? | In Trend Today

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[cinghialefedele]

He's wondering, after stepping out in yet another set of tailored slacks and a turtleneck, if he should get some...actual casual clothes, for summer. It's so hot lately...he's lucky he hasn't spent too much time outside recently.

Maybe he should change that...

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Tesla's Dieselgate

Elon Musk lies a lot. He lies about being a “utopian socialist.” He lies about being a “free speech absolutist.” He lies about which companies he founded:

https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-cofounder-martin-eberhard-interview-history-elon-musk-ev-market-2023-2 He lies about being the “chief engineer” of those companies:

https://www.quora.com/Was-Elon-Musk-the-actual-engineer-behind-SpaceX-and-Tesla

He lies about really stupid stuff, like claiming that comsats that share the same spectrum will deliver steady broadband speeds as they add more users who each get a narrower slice of that spectrum:

https://www.eff.org/wp/case-fiber-home-today-why-fiber-superior-medium-21st-century-broadband

The fundamental laws of physics don’t care about this bullshit, but people do. The comsat lie convinced a bunch of people that pulling fiber to all our homes is literally impossible — as though the electrical and phone lines that come to our homes now were installed by an ancient, lost civilization. Pulling new cabling isn’t a mysterious art, like embalming pharaohs. We do it all the time. One of the poorest places in America installed universal fiber with a mule named “Ole Bub”:

https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/the-one-traffic-light-town-with-some-of-the-fastest-internet-in-the-us

Previous tech barons had “reality distortion fields,” but Musk just blithely contradicts himself and pretends he isn’t doing so, like a budget Steve Jobs. There’s an entire site devoted to cataloging Musk’s public lies:

https://elonmusk.today/

But while Musk lacks the charm of earlier Silicon Valley grifters, he’s much better than they ever were at running a long con. For years, he’s been promising “full self driving…next year.”

https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/09/herbies-revenge/#100-billion-here-100-billion-there-pretty-soon-youre-talking-real-money

He’s hasn’t delivered, but he keeps claiming he has, making Teslas some of the deadliest cars on the road:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/06/10/tesla-autopilot-crashes-elon-musk/

Tesla is a giant shell-game masquerading as a car company. The important thing about Tesla isn’t its cars, it’s Tesla’s business arrangement, the Tesla-Financial Complex:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/11/24/no-puedo-pagar-no-pagara/#Rat

Once you start unpacking Tesla’s balance sheets, you start to realize how much the company depends on government subsidies and tax-breaks, combined with selling carbon credits that make huge, planet-destroying SUVs possible, under the pretense that this is somehow good for the environment:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/14/for-sale-green-indulgences/#killer-analogy

But even with all those financial shenanigans, Tesla’s got an absurdly high valuation, soaring at times to 1600x its profitability:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/01/15/hoover-calling/#intangibles

That valuation represents a bet on Tesla’s ability to extract ever-higher rents from its customers. Take Tesla’s batteries: you pay for the battery when you buy your car, but you don’t own that battery. You have to rent the right to use its full capacity, with Tesla reserving the right to reduce how far you go on a charge based on your willingness to pay:

https://memex.craphound.com/2017/09/10/teslas-demon-haunted-cars-in-irmas-path-get-a-temporary-battery-life-boost/

That’s just one of the many rent-a-features that Tesla drivers have to shell out for. You don’t own your car at all: when you sell it as a used vehicle, Tesla strips out these features you paid for and makes the next driver pay again, reducing the value of your used car and transfering it to Tesla’s shareholders:

https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/6/21127243/tesla-model-s-autopilot-disabled-remotely-used-car-update

To maintain this rent-extraction racket, Tesla uses DRM that makes it a felony to alter your own car’s software without Tesla’s permission. This is the root of all autoenshittification:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/24/rent-to-pwn/#kitt-is-a-demon

This is technofeudalism. Whereas capitalists seek profits (income from selling things), feudalists seek rents (income from owning the things other people use). If Telsa were a capitalist enterprise, then entrepreneurs could enter the market and sell mods that let you unlock the functionality in your own car:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/06/11/1-in-3/#boost-50

But because Tesla is a feudal enterprise, capitalists must first secure permission from the fief, Elon Musk, who decides which companies are allowed to compete with him, and how.

Once a company owns the right to decide which software you can run, there’s no limit to the ways it can extract rent from you. Blocking you from changing your device’s software lets a company run overt scams on you. For example, they can block you from getting your car independently repaired with third-party parts.

But they can also screw you in sneaky ways. Once a device has DRM on it, Section 1201 of the DMCA makes it a felony to bypass that DRM, even for legitimate purposes. That means that your DRM-locked device can spy on you, and because no one is allowed to explore how that surveillance works, the manufacturer can be incredibly sloppy with all the personal info they gather:

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/29/tesla-model-3-keeps-data-like-crash-videos-location-phone-contacts.html

All kinds of hidden anti-features can lurk in your DRM-locked car, protected from discovery, analysis and criticism by the illegality of bypassing the DRM. For example, Teslas have a hidden feature that lets them lock out their owners and summon a repo man to drive them away if you have a dispute about a late payment:

https://tiremeetsroad.com/2021/03/18/tesla-allegedly-remotely-unlocks-model-3-owners-car-uses-smart-summon-to-help-repo-agent/

DRM is a gun on the mantlepiece in Act I, and by Act III, it goes off, revealing some kind of ugly and often dangerous scam. Remember Dieselgate? Volkswagen created a line of demon-haunted cars: if they thought they were being scrutinized (by regulators measuring their emissions), they switched into a mode that traded performance for low emissions. But when they believed themselves to be unobserved, they reversed this, emitting deadly levels of NOX but delivering superior mileage.

The conversion of the VW diesel fleet into mobile gas-chambers wouldn’t have been possible without DRM. DRM adds a layer of serious criminal jeopardy to anyone attempting to reverse-engineer and study any device, from a phone to a car. DRM let Apple claim to be a champion of its users’ privacy even as it spied on them from asshole to appetite:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/14/luxury-surveillance/#liar-liar

Now, Tesla is having its own Dieselgate scandal. A stunning investigation by Steve Stecklow and Norihiko Shirouzu for Reuters reveals how Tesla was able to create its own demon-haunted car, which systematically deceived drivers about its driving range, and the increasingly desperate measures the company turned to as customers discovered the ruse:

https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/tesla-batteries-range/

The root of the deception is very simple: Tesla mis-sells its cars by falsely claiming ranges that those cars can’t attain. Every person who ever bought a Tesla was defrauded.

But this fraud would be easy to detect. If you bought a Tesla rated for 353 miles on a charge, but the dashboard range predictor told you that your fully charged car could only go 150 miles, you’d immediately figure something was up. So your Telsa tells another lie: the range predictor tells you that you can go 353 miles.

But again, if the car continued to tell you it has 203 miles of range when it was about to run out of charge, you’d figure something was up pretty quick — like, the first time your car ran out of battery while the dashboard cheerily informed you that you had 203 miles of range left.

So Teslas tell a third lie: when the battery charge reached about 50%, the fake range is replaced with the real one. That way, drivers aren’t getting mass-stranded by the roadside, and the scam can continue.

But there’s a new problem: drivers whose cars are rated for 353 miles but can’t go anything like that far on a full charge naturally assume that something is wrong with their cars, so they start calling Tesla service and asking to have the car checked over.

This creates a problem for Tesla: those service calls can cost the company $1,000, and of course, there’s nothing wrong with the car. It’s performing exactly as designed. So Tesla created its boldest fraud yet: a boiler-room full of anti-salespeople charged with convincing people that their cars weren’t broken.

This new unit — the “diversion team” — was headquartered in a Nevada satellite office, which was equipped with a metal xylophone that would be rung in triumph every time a Tesla owner was successfully conned into thinking that their car wasn’t defrauding them.

When a Tesla owner called this boiler room, the diverter would run remote diagnostics on their car, then pronounce it fine, and chide the driver for having energy-hungry driving habits (shades of Steve Jobs’s “You’re holding it wrong”):

https://www.wired.com/2010/06/iphone-4-holding-it-wrong/

The drivers who called the Diversion Team weren’t just lied to, they were also punished. The Tesla app was silently altered so that anyone who filed a complaint about their car’s range was no longer able to book a service appointment for any reason. If their car malfunctioned, they’d have to request a callback, which could take several days.

Meanwhile, the diverters on the diversion team were instructed not to inform drivers if the remote diagnostics they performed detected any other defects in the cars.

The diversion team had a 750 complaint/week quota: to juke this stat, diverters would close the case for any driver who failed to answer the phone when they were eventually called back. The center received 2,000+ calls every week. Diverters were ordered to keep calls to five minutes or less.

Eventually, diverters were ordered to cease performing any remote diagnostics on drivers’ cars: a source told Reuters that “Thousands of customers were told there is nothing wrong with their car” without any diagnostics being performed.

Predicting EV range is an inexact science as many factors can affect battery life, notably whether a journey is uphill or downhill. Every EV automaker has to come up with a figure that represents some kind of best guess under a mix of conditions. But while other manufacturers err on the side of caution, Tesla has the most inaccurate mileage estimates in the industry, double the industry average.

Other countries’ regulators have taken note. In Korea, Tesla was fined millions and Elon Musk was personally required to state that he had deceived Tesla buyers. The Korean regulator found that the true range of Teslas under normal winter conditions was less than half of the claimed range.

Now, many companies have been run by malignant narcissists who lied compulsively — think of Thomas Edison, archnemesis of Nikola Tesla himself. The difference here isn’t merely that Musk is a deeply unfit monster of a human being — but rather, that DRM allows him to defraud his customers behind a state-enforced opaque veil. The digital computers at the heart of a Tesla aren’t just demons haunting the car, changing its performance based on whether it believes it is being observed — they also allow Musk to invoke the power of the US government to felonize anyone who tries to peer into the black box where he commits his frauds.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/28/edison-not-tesla/#demon-haunted-world

This Sunday (July 30) at 1530h, I’m appearing on a panel at Midsummer Scream in Long Beach, CA, to discuss the wonderful, award-winning “Ghost Post” Haunted Mansion project I worked on for Disney Imagineering.

Image ID [A scene out of an 11th century tome on demon-summoning called 'Compendium rarissimum totius Artis Magicae sistematisatae per celeberrimos Artis hujus Magistros. Anno 1057. Noli me tangere.' It depicts a demon tormenting two unlucky would-be demon-summoners who have dug up a grave in a graveyard. One summoner is held aloft by his hair, screaming; the other screams from inside the grave he is digging up. The scene has been altered to remove the demon's prominent, urinating penis, to add in a Tesla supercharger, and a red Tesla Model S nosing into the scene.]

Image: Steve Jurvetson (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tesla_Model_S_Indoors.jpg

CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

[soon-palestine]

𝗨.𝗦. 𝗖𝗢𝗨𝗥𝗧 𝗖𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗦 𝗧𝗘𝗖𝗛 𝗚𝗜𝗔𝗡𝗧𝗦 𝗢𝗙 𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗚𝗢 𝗔𝗕𝗨𝗦𝗘𝗦

Not guilty.

That's the verdict of a US federal appeals court in a case involving five tech companies accused of benefitting from child labour in Congolese mines. On 5th March, 2024, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia made a 3-0 decision in favour of (Google’s parent company) Alphabet, Microsoft, Dell, Tesla and Apple Inc. in a case filed by 16 former Congolese child miners and their guardians.

The plaintiffs accused the companies of "deliberately obscuring" their dependence on child labour, in effect abetting the exploitation of many children to ensure steady supplies of cobalt. Some of the complainants were the guardians of children who’d been killed in cobalt-mining operations.

The court ruled that buying cobalt in the global supply chain did not amount to "participation in a venture," and there was no proof that the tech giants had anything more than a buyer-seller relationship with suppliers or had the power to stop the use of child labour.

Cobalt is in high demand as competition for market leadership in Electric Vehicle sales kicks into high gear. Nearly two-thirds of the world's cobalt is mined in DR Congo. The country has 2-million artisanal miners working under horrible conditions, according to DelveDatabase, an online database. Four critical minerals - copper, nickel, cobalt and lithium - will generate $16 trillion in the next 25 years, according to the IMF.

DR Congo's vast wealth is the key reason for the country's long history of exploitation and conflict - from Belgian King Leopold II running the country as his private estate to Western tech firms churning out high-end goods using Congolese minerals.

Help raise awareness of the exploitation of Congolese children by sharing this video widely.