public company

Tesla

A public electric-vehicle, energy, and robotics company with concentrated leadership, labor-rights enforcement history, connected-car surveillance concerns, public controversies, and shareholder control. Tesla remains weak because of surveillance capture, documented human harm, and ideological disavowal, even where the product or service has practical value.

Why this matters: Climate-positive product categories do not automatically constrain workplace power, leadership concentration, or vehicle-data surveillance.

Letter grade D Extractive High confidence (AI) Rubric gcd-rubric-v1 Last reviewed May 6, 2026

Final Score 4* D - Extractive

DEXTRACTIVE4 pts

* Tentative scaffolding score. Not human-checked or final.

Base Material27

Bonus+0

Cap35Ownership <= 2 and Governance <= 2

After Cap27

Penalties-23

Private Government badge

Tesla receives the Private Government badge because it combines large-scale private rule-setting over customers, workers, users, members, or counterparties with OpenLobby-documented lobbying of about $1.3M on public policy issues.

Evidence: [16]

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Evaluation Overview

D - Extractive

The score turns mainly on Extraction, with the largest penalty coming from Policy Capture.

Strengths

Extraction5/10
Product Integrity4/5
Scale Integrity4/5

Penalties

Policy Capture-6
High-Carbon Products-5
Surveillance Capture-5
Human Harm-3

Evidence state

ConfidenceHigh confidence (AI)
ThoroughnessPartial (AI)
Linked claims16
Direct axis claims15
Coverage15/15

Scoring Axes

Axis	Score	Why this score
Ownership ? Control rights: shareholder-dominated at 0, worker cooperative control at 10.	2 / 10	Tesla is a publicly traded corporation governed through shareholder-facing investor and board structures. Calibration notes Comparative anchor: Column-spectrum position: 78 scored entries below, 21 tied, 127 above on Ownership. Linked evidence Tesla is a publicly traded corporation governed through shareholder-facing investor and board structures. [1]
Governance ? Binding decision authority: centralized control at 0, democratic stakeholder control at 10.	2 / 10	Tesla is a publicly traded corporation governed through shareholder-facing investor and board structures. Calibration notes Comparative anchor: Column-spectrum position: 71 scored entries below, 22 tied, 133 above on Governance. Linked evidence context Tesla is a publicly traded corporation governed through shareholder-facing investor and board structures. [1] context The NLRB found that Tesla maintained an unlawful policy restricting employees from wearing union apparel or insignia absent special circumstances. [2] Tesla's SEC filings present a shareholder corporation led through board and executive control, while the NLRB union-insignia decision shows workers had to use legal enforcement rather than internal democratic control to protect workplace expression. [3]
Extraction ? Surplus allocation, wage share, CEO pay ratio, margins, and structured extraction judgment.	5 / 10	Tesla is a publicly traded corporation governed through shareholder-facing investor and board structures. Tesla is a publicly traded corporation governed through shareholder-facing investor and board structures. That places Tesla in the middle of Extraction: the institution creates real value but still leaves room for rent extraction, unequal bargaining, or surplus capture. The value stays below the top tier because the linked record does not show full democratic control, non-extractive lock-in, or complete stakeholder protection on this axis. Calibration notes Comparative anchor: Column-spectrum position: 95 scored entries below, 19 tied, 112 above on Extraction. Linked evidence context Tesla is a publicly traded corporation governed through shareholder-facing investor and board structures. [1] context The NLRB found that Tesla maintained an unlawful policy restricting employees from wearing union apparel or insignia absent special circumstances. [2] Tesla's 2025 Form 10-K reports a large public automotive, services, energy, and software business, so surplus is captured through ordinary shareholder-company channels rather than worker, customer, or community ownership. [4]
Labor Sovereignty ? Worker power: coercive conditions at 0, co-determination or ownership at 7. Employee dissatisfaction matters only when source-backed evidence shows concrete limits on worker agency, such as coercive scheduling, retaliation, wage theft, harassment, unsafe conditions, suppression of worker voice, or extreme turnover.	2 / 7	The NLRB found that Tesla maintained an unlawful policy restricting employees from wearing union apparel or insignia absent special circumstances. The NLRB found that Tesla maintained an unlawful policy restricting employees from wearing union apparel or insignia absent special circumstances. That keeps Tesla low on Labor Sovereignty: labor remains managerially controlled, replaceable, or exposed to coercive employment and contracting conditions. The value is above zero only where the linked record still shows some real function, constraint, or public value on this axis. Calibration notes Comparative anchor: Column-spectrum position: 8 scored entries below, 36 tied, 182 above on Labor Sovereignty. Linked evidence The NLRB found that Tesla maintained an unlawful policy restricting employees from wearing union apparel or insignia absent special circumstances. [2]
Solidarity with the Unemployed ? Treatment of exits and nonworkers, including severance, redeployment, and non-competes.	2 / 7	Tesla is a publicly traded corporation governed through shareholder-facing investor and board structures. Tesla is a publicly traded corporation governed through shareholder-facing investor and board structures. That keeps Tesla low on Solidarity with the Unemployed: the model provides little protection for people who leave, are excluded, or cannot bargain from employment. The value is above zero only where the linked record still shows some real function, constraint, or public value on this axis. Calibration notes Comparative anchor: Column-spectrum position: 31 scored entries below, 49 tied, 146 above on Solidarity with the Unemployed. Linked evidence context Tesla is a publicly traded corporation governed through shareholder-facing investor and board structures. [1] context The NLRB found that Tesla maintained an unlawful policy restricting employees from wearing union apparel or insignia absent special circumstances. [2] The NLRB union-insignia ruling documents Tesla workplace rules that constrained collective labor expression rather than creating strong protections for workers with less bargaining power. [5]
Loss-Bearing Fidelity ? Willingness to absorb costs to preserve values, workers, users, and public obligations.	3 / 7	Tesla is a publicly traded corporation governed through shareholder-facing investor and board structures. Tesla is a publicly traded corporation governed through shareholder-facing investor and board structures. That places Tesla in the middle of Loss-Bearing Fidelity: there is some willingness to preserve obligations, but the record still leaves meaningful risk-shifting concerns. The value stays below the top tier because the linked record does not show full democratic control, non-extractive lock-in, or complete stakeholder protection on this axis. Calibration notes Comparative anchor: Column-spectrum position: 48 scored entries below, 39 tied, 139 above on Loss-Bearing Fidelity. Linked evidence context Tesla is a publicly traded corporation governed through shareholder-facing investor and board structures. [1] context The NLRB found that Tesla maintained an unlawful policy restricting employees from wearing union apparel or insignia absent special circumstances. [2] Mozilla's Tesla privacy review reports that opting out of vehicle data collection can reduce functionality or affect vehicle operation, which is loss-bearing evidence because privacy costs are pushed onto customers who need the product to work. [6]
Market Conduct ? Pricing fairness, switching costs, lock-in, and rent extraction.	3 / 5	Tesla is a publicly traded corporation governed through shareholder-facing investor and board structures. Tesla is a publicly traded corporation governed through shareholder-facing investor and board structures. That places Tesla in the middle of Market Conduct: the product has real value but still uses meaningful lock-in, gatekeeping, market power, or dependency. The value stays below the top tier because the linked record does not show full democratic control, non-extractive lock-in, or complete stakeholder protection on this axis. Calibration notes Comparative anchor: Column-spectrum position: 54 scored entries below, 51 tied, 121 above on Market Conduct. Linked evidence context Tesla is a publicly traded corporation governed through shareholder-facing investor and board structures. [1] context The NLRB found that Tesla maintained an unlawful policy restricting employees from wearing union apparel or insignia absent special circumstances. [2] Tesla sells useful electric vehicles and energy products, while connected-car data dependence and centralized software control create meaningful lock-in and customer dependency. [7]
Product Integrity ? Preservation of quality rather than degradation for monetization.	4 / 5	Tesla is a publicly traded corporation governed through shareholder-facing investor and board structures. Calibration notes Comparative anchor: Column-spectrum position: 61 scored entries below, 72 tied, 93 above on Product Integrity. Linked evidence context Tesla is a publicly traded corporation governed through shareholder-facing investor and board structures. [1] context The NLRB found that Tesla maintained an unlawful policy restricting employees from wearing union apparel or insignia absent special circumstances. [2] Tesla's core products have real decarbonization and transportation value, while connected-car surveillance and labor-rights enforcement concerns affect product trust and customer autonomy. [8]
Scale Integrity ? Whether growth improves or degrades fairness and accountability.	4 / 5	Tesla is a publicly traded corporation governed through shareholder-facing investor and board structures. Calibration notes Comparative anchor: Column-spectrum position: 109 scored entries below, 81 tied, 36 above on Scale Integrity. Linked evidence context Tesla is a publicly traded corporation governed through shareholder-facing investor and board structures. [1] context The NLRB found that Tesla maintained an unlawful policy restricting employees from wearing union apparel or insignia absent special circumstances. [2] Tesla's large automotive and energy scale makes its products socially consequential, but the same scale magnifies centralized software, labor, and surveillance risks rather than making governance more accountable. [9]

Penalties

Penalty	Applied	Why this penalty
Human Harm ? Severity, scale, culpability, vulnerable targets, willful reoffense, reputation laundering, pattern escalation, and time decay. Range: -20 to 0.	-3	The NLRB union-insignia ruling is relevant to the human-harm penalty because a worker-rights harm, but it does not justify the severe-harm tier used for death, forced labor, or mass bodily injury. The NLRB union-insignia ruling is relevant to the human-harm penalty because a worker-rights harm, but it does not justify the severe-harm tier used for death, forced labor, or mass bodily injury. That warrants a limited Human Harm penalty because ordinary operation, documented misconduct, or institutional power creates serious injury, deprivation, abuse, or foreseeable human damage. The value is limited because the linked record shows a real problem but not one that dominates the profile on this axis. Calibration notes Comparative anchor: Column-spectrum position: 52 scored entries below, 1 tied, 173 above on Human Harm. Linked evidence The NLRB union-insignia ruling is relevant to the human-harm penalty because a worker-rights harm, but it does not justify the severe-harm tier used for death, forced labor, or mass bodily injury. [10]
Policy Capture ? Private-interest attempts to bend law, regulation, subsidies, taxes, enforcement, trade, labor, safety, competition, environmental, healthcare, housing, surveillance, civil-liberties, or consumer policy against workers, customers, citizens, affected communities, or ecological life. Public-interest advocacy is not penalized merely because it is lobbying. Range: -15 to 0.	-6	OpenLobby records TESLA lobbying on transportation, tax, natural resources, automotive, energy with about $1.3M in spending across 26 filings; the reviewed filings document private… OpenLobby records TESLA lobbying on transportation, tax, natural resources, automotive, energy with about $1.3M in spending across 26 filings; the reviewed filings document private institutional lobbying over public rules rather than a public-interest advocacy role. That warrants a substantial Policy Capture penalty because private institutional pressure is being applied to public rules while affected people cannot democratically govern that agenda. The value is substantial but not at the floor because the linked record shows serious conduct without the strongest aggravating factors on this axis. Linked evidence OpenLobby records TESLA lobbying on transportation, tax, natural resources, automotive, energy with about $1.3M in spending across 26 filings; the reviewed filings document private institutional lobbying over public rules rather than a public-interest advocacy role. [14]
High-Carbon Products ? Core products, services, financing, or supply chains that materially depend on fossil-fuel combustion, high-emissions transport, industrial animal agriculture, meat, dairy, or other unusually carbon-intensive activity. This is scored separately from general ecological harm so ordinary consumers can see carbon-intensive product exposure directly. Range: -10 to 0.	-5	Combustion transport, vehicle fleets, fuel, rental trucks, or transport platforms create material high-carbon exposure. Linked evidence Tesla has combustion transport exposure high-carbon product exposure based on its listed business model and current profile description: A public electric-vehicle, energy, and robotics company with concentrated leadership, labor-rights enforcement history, connected-car surveillance concerns, public controversies, and shareholder control. Tesla remains w… [15]
Accountability Opacity ? Material opacity, reputation laundering, or hidden accountability structures that prevent public accountability. Range: -2 to 0.	-2	Tesla's public governance is materially exposed to concentrated leadership power and related accountability-opacity concerns. Tesla's public governance is materially exposed to concentrated leadership power and related accountability-opacity concerns. That warrants a severe Accountability Opacity penalty because material facts, risks, conflicts, ownership, or accountability information are obscured from the public. The value is near the floor because the conduct appears central, large-scale, repeated, or institutionally powerful rather than incidental. Calibration notes Comparative anchor: Column-spectrum position: 0 scored entries below, 52 tied, 174 above on Accountability Opacity. Linked evidence Tesla's public governance is materially exposed to concentrated leadership power and related accountability-opacity concerns. [11]
Surveillance Capture ? Invasive surveillance, unreasonably non-optional tracking, facial recognition, biometric identification, or AI behavior scanning of customers, workers, bystanders, or the public. Range: -5 to 0.	-5	Mozilla reported that Tesla received all of its car privacy dings, including an untrustworthy-AI ding, and described Tesla opt-out language where disabling vehicle data collection can reduce functionality or affect vehicle operation. Mozilla reported that Tesla received all of its car privacy dings, including an untrustworthy-AI ding, and described Tesla opt-out language where disabling vehicle data collection can reduce functionality or affect vehicle operation. That warrants a severe Surveillance Capture penalty because customers, workers, users, bystanders, or the public are exposed to invasive tracking, biometrics, or behavior scanning. The value is near the floor because the conduct appears central, large-scale, repeated, or institutionally powerful rather than incidental. Calibration notes Comparative anchor: Column-spectrum position: 0 scored entries below, 12 tied, 214 above on Surveillance Capture. Linked evidence Mozilla reported that Tesla received all of its car privacy dings, including an untrustworthy-AI ding, and described Tesla opt-out language where disabling vehicle data collection can reduce functionality or affect vehicle operation. [12]
Ideological Disavowal ? Concealed ideology presented as neutrality, expertise, professional necessity, public-service administration, market inevitability, or non-ideological common sense while exercising power. Range: -3 to 0.	-2	Tesla's public framing is assessed as ideological-disavowal evidence because Tesla exercises meaningful institutional or cultural power while strongly presenting contested choices as… Tesla's public framing is assessed as ideological-disavowal evidence because Tesla exercises meaningful institutional or cultural power while strongly presenting contested choices as neutral expertise, safety, objectivity, professionalism, administrative necessity, or public service. That warrants a substantial Ideological Disavowal penalty because the institution presents situated, contested choices as neutrality, expertise, inevitability, safety, or common sense. The value is substantial but not at the floor because the linked record shows serious conduct without the strongest aggravating factors on this axis. Calibration notes Comparative anchor: Ideological Disavowal 0 to -3 recalibration: 0 for explicit standpoint or no penalty-level neutrality theater; -1 for bounded softening of contested choices; -2 for strong neutrality theater by a powerful institution; -3 for major gatekeeping or coercive power presented as neutral, necessary, objective, or non-ideological. Uncertainty This recalibration uses public self-presentation and profile evidence; later review should add direct language-analysis evidence for high-impact institutions. Linked evidence Tesla's public framing is assessed as ideological-disavowal evidence because Tesla exercises meaningful institutional or cultural power while strongly presenting contested choices as neutral expertise, safety, objectivity, professionalism, administrative necessity, or public service. [13]

Bonus Credits

No bonus credits applied in this version.

Confidence Basis

Confidence is computed from the evidence trail and review state, not typed into the profile by hand.

High 85/100

15 verified linked claims 15 direct axis claims 0 disputed claims 15/15 components covered

This confidence label measures the source-backed evidence trail. AI-scaffolded scores remain tentative until human review.

Claim confidence 17/20

15 verified linked claims

Source quality 16/18

Best source per verified claim, weighted by institutional reliability

Direct axis-specific claims 14/18

15 direct claims across 15 active components

Dispute load 12/12

0 disputed claims on this entity

Recency 10/10

Newest accepted timestamp: May 13, 2026

Reviewer status 7/12

Human-reviewed components score higher than AI scaffolding

Component coverage 10/10

15/15 evidence-bearing components have direct support

Evidence State

Profile stateAI draft / human-pending

VerificationUnverified

ConfidenceHigh confidence (AI)

ThoroughnessPartial (AI)

Correction routeUse “Challenge this rating” for factual errors, missing counterevidence, source problems, or calculation mistakes.

Company responseCompany representatives can submit source-backed corrections; payment never changes scores or reviewer authority.

Claims and Sources

Claims are the evidence record. Each claim needs a source link, axis category, status, confidence level, and timestamp before it can support a score.

* Tentative scaffolding score. Not human-checked or final.

1Tesla is a publicly traded corporation governed through shareholder-facing investor and board structures.

Ownership Verified Medium confidence Human-reviewed May 4, 2026

Tesla investor relationsOfficial self-description · 68%

2The NLRB found that Tesla maintained an unlawful policy restricting employees from wearing union apparel or insignia absent special circumstances.

Labor Sovereignty Verified Medium confidence Human-reviewed May 4, 2026

NLRB Tesla union insignia decisionPrimary public record · 100%

3Tesla's SEC filings present a shareholder corporation led through board and executive control, while the NLRB union-insignia decision shows workers had to use legal enforcement rather than internal democratic control to protect workplace expression.

Governance Verified High confidence AI-generated / human-pending May 13, 2026

AI scaffold

Tesla 2025 Form 10-KPrimary public record · 100%
NLRB Tesla union insignia decisionPrimary public record · 100%

4Tesla's 2025 Form 10-K reports a large public automotive, services, energy, and software business, so surplus is captured through ordinary shareholder-company channels rather than worker, customer, or community ownership.

Extraction Verified High confidence AI-generated / human-pending May 13, 2026

AI scaffold

Tesla 2025 Form 10-KPrimary public record · 100%

5The NLRB union-insignia ruling documents Tesla workplace rules that constrained collective labor expression rather than creating strong protections for workers with less bargaining power.

Solidarity Unemployed Verified High confidence AI-generated / human-pending May 13, 2026

AI scaffold

NLRB Tesla union insignia decisionPrimary public record · 100%

6Mozilla's Tesla privacy review reports that opting out of vehicle data collection can reduce functionality or affect vehicle operation, which is loss-bearing evidence because privacy costs are pushed onto customers who need the product to work.

Loss Bearing Fidelity Verified High confidence AI-generated / human-pending May 13, 2026

AI scaffold

Mozilla Tesla privacy reviewGeneral web source · 58%

7Tesla sells useful electric vehicles and energy products, while connected-car data dependence and centralized software control create meaningful lock-in and customer dependency.

Market Conduct Verified High confidence AI-generated / human-pending May 13, 2026

AI scaffold

Tesla 2025 Form 10-KPrimary public record · 100%
Mozilla Tesla privacy reviewGeneral web source · 58%

8Tesla's core products have real decarbonization and transportation value, while connected-car surveillance and labor-rights enforcement concerns affect product trust and customer autonomy.

Product Integrity Verified High confidence AI-generated / human-pending May 13, 2026

AI scaffold

Tesla 2025 Form 10-KPrimary public record · 100%
Mozilla Tesla privacy reviewGeneral web source · 58%

9Tesla's large automotive and energy scale makes its products socially consequential, but the same scale magnifies centralized software, labor, and surveillance risks rather than making governance more accountable.

Scale Integrity Verified High confidence AI-generated / human-pending May 13, 2026

AI scaffold

Tesla 2025 Form 10-KPrimary public record · 100%

10The NLRB union-insignia ruling is relevant to the human-harm penalty because a worker-rights harm, but it does not justify the severe-harm tier used for death, forced labor, or mass bodily injury.

Human Harm Verified Medium confidence Human-reviewed May 5, 2026

NLRB Tesla union insignia decisionPrimary public record · 100%

11Tesla's public governance is materially exposed to concentrated leadership power and related accountability-opacity concerns.

Accountability Opacity Verified Medium confidence Human-reviewed May 4, 2026

Tesla investor relationsOfficial self-description · 68%

12Mozilla reported that Tesla received all of its car privacy dings, including an untrustworthy-AI ding, and described Tesla opt-out language where disabling vehicle data collection can reduce functionality or affect vehicle operation.

Surveillance Capture Verified High confidence AI-generated / human-pending May 6, 2026

AI scaffold

Mozilla Tesla privacy reviewGeneral web source · 58%
Mozilla car privacy overviewGeneral web source · 58%

13Tesla's public framing is assessed as ideological-disavowal evidence because Tesla exercises meaningful institutional or cultural power while strongly presenting contested choices as neutral expertise, safety, objectivity, professionalism, administrative necessity, or public service.

Ideological Disavowal Verified Medium confidence AI-generated / human-pending May 9, 2026

AI scaffold

Tesla official siteGeneral web source · 58%
NLRB Tesla union insignia decisionPrimary public record · 100%
Mozilla Tesla privacy reviewGeneral web source · 58%

14OpenLobby records TESLA lobbying on transportation, tax, natural resources, automotive, energy with about $1.3M in spending across 26 filings; the reviewed filings document private institutional lobbying over public rules rather than a public-interest advocacy role.

Policy Capture Verified Medium confidence AI-generated / human-pending May 11, 2026

AI scaffold

OpenLobby — TESLA lobbying profileGeneral web source · 58%

15Tesla has combustion transport exposure high-carbon product exposure based on its listed business model and current profile description: A public electric-vehicle, energy, and robotics company with concentrated leadership, labor-rights enforcement history, connected-car surveillance concerns, public controversies, and shareholder control. Tesla remains w…

High Carbon Products Verified Medium confidence Human-reviewed May 11, 2026

Tesla public siteGeneral web source · 58%
EPA: Transportation Sector EmissionsPrimary public record · 100%

16Tesla receives the Private Government badge because it combines large-scale private rule-setting over customers, workers, users, members, or counterparties with OpenLobby-documented lobbying of about $1.3M on public policy issues.

Private Government Verified Medium confidence AI-generated / human-pending May 11, 2026

AI scaffold

OpenLobby — TESLA lobbying profileGeneral web source · 58%

Alternatives

Competitors

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Audit Log

Recent public changes for this company or group. The full audit log is part of the Transparency record.

May 6, 2026 at 12:00 AM UTC ai-scaffolding toxic-products-assessment

Added tentative AI-generated Toxic Products penalty 0 and directory value for current toxic, addictive, pesticide, livestock, chemical, or consumer-safety product exposure.

May 6, 2026 at 12:00 AM UTC ai-scaffolding surveillance-penalty-update

Updated Tesla with a direct surveillance-capture component under the new penalty.

May 5, 2026 at 12:00 AM UTC ai_scaffolding score

Published tentative AI-generated scaffolding score 17 for initial human review under gcd-rubric-v1.

View Full Audit Log