The German media outlet T-Online is now withdrawing its survey of Tesla's reputation in Germany. The poll was rigged.
A survey of Germans' attitudes towards Tesla cars has now been withdrawn after suspicions of fraud.
Online surveys can generally be considered unsafe, and the Tesla case highlights the importance of looking at these types of surveys with a critical eye.
It was German T-Online that conducted the survey, to which more than 100,000 of the medium's readers responded.
The initial results indicated that a significant majority – 94 percent – of those surveyed could not see themselves in a Tesla.
However, the picture changed dramatically within a week, when the survey suddenly showed that over 70 percent of participants were positive about buying a Tesla.
Elon Musk also calls the measurement a hoax
The drastic change in the results surprised T-Online, which subsequently chose to investigate the matter further.
It turned out that 253,000 votes were cast from two IP addresses in the US, which, according to the media outlet today, indicates fraud and manipulation.
– Where these voices – and the sudden change of opinion – came from was initially unclear. At first glance, the number of article views in recent days and the number of survey participants do not match.
– Initial internal research now shows that 253,000 of the votes cast came from just two IP addresses in the US. This suggests that the survey may have been manipulated, writes T-Online.
The positive development in the survey was shared by Elon Musk on the social media X, where he accused the original survey of being fake. A result that Boosted has also written about. Read more about it here .
However, it is important to note that the first result was also criticized for being flawed, as readers complained about the possibility of casting multiple votes.
The case highlights the challenges associated with using online surveys as reliable opinion polls.
