Tesla recently announced that it would store Chinese private customer data within mainland China. The Chinese authorities claim that maintaining customer privacy is important. This is from the Global Times, a mouthpiece for the CCP:

“All data produced from selling cars in the Chinese mainland market will be stored within the border,” the automaker said, reiterating earlier commitments made by company executives.

The latest reassurance came as relevant Chinese departments seek to tighten regulations to protect personal data collected by electric vehicles. On May 12, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) issued a draft rule for car companies to bolster protection of consumer data.

I’m sure that the communist party is primarily concerned with privacy, and not being able to mine customer data.

The CCP tracks most of its citizens and uses the information to develop each person’s social credit score. That score is then used to either reward or punish each person as the party sees fit. I am sure Tesla knows this.

There are a lot of companies that are willing to bow to the Communist’s requirements just to gain access to the vast market of Chinese customers. I just wonder how much they are willing to give up in the name of profit. I am not against profit by any means, but giving more power to a punitive actor is not part of a free market.