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A comment on Nikola admits prototype was rolling downhill in promotional video. Parent comment

Re:Nikola admits prototype was rolling downhill in promotion... by xkjkls on Monday September 14, 2020 @02:53PM (#24473704)
tbh thats probably legalistically enough for them to avoid getting sued

But the very idea that "yeah, you're right on all the facts, its just that we didn't really 'lie'" isn't a great defense of the business

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Re:Nikola admits prototype was rolling downhill in promotion... by lordnacho on Monday September 14, 2020 @03:03PM (#24473820)
The law normally considers what a reasonable person would think, doesn't it? Who would think it was anything other than moving under its own power?
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Re:Nikola admits prototype was rolling downhill in promotion... by xkjkls on Monday September 14, 2020 @03:12PM (#24473916)
It depends on the circumstance. In the case of an investor, there's much more assumed due diligence than just "what a reasonable person would think".
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Re:Nikola admits prototype was rolling downhill in promotion... by lordnacho on Monday September 14, 2020 @03:43PM (#24474256)
If the guy shows you a video, are you gonna actually ask him whether it was what it looks like?

I guess you ought to kick the tyres on the real thing though.

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Re:Nikola admits prototype was rolling downhill in promotion... by awb on Monday September 14, 2020 @04:00PM (#24474446)
Investors are supposed to conduct their own due diligence which could include talking to the engineers or setting up a demo under mutually agreed conditions at which point the difference between "in motion" and "driving" would be uncovered.

It's definitely not a good look though.

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Re:Nikola admits prototype was rolling downhill in promotion... by duskwuff on Monday September 14, 2020 @10:13PM (#24477252)
Context matters too. No reasonable person would expect a company to post a promotional video of their vehicle "in motion" just to show off that it has wheels that can roll.
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Re:Nikola admits prototype was rolling downhill in promotion... by valuearb on Monday September 14, 2020 @05:07PM (#24475171)
The CEO directly said it was a working truck at the time. Today’s press release is skirting that fact.
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