Tesla has sued its own customers and journalists in China for defamation – and won just about every time.

In response to Zhang's lawsuit, Tesla filed a suit of its own claiming that Zhang had damaged the brand by deliberately spreading false information. The company, which is worth $1.05 trillion, asked for 5 million yuan ($684,000) in damages.

Tesla sued a Chinese woman named Zhang Yazhou for defamation and won $23,000 in damages. The lawsuit was filed after she claimed that a brake failure in her Model 3 caused an accident that resulted in her parents' hospitalization.

Zhang Yazhou was sitting in the passenger seat of her Tesla Model 3 when she said she heard her father’s panicked voice: The brakes don’t work! Approaching a red light, her father swerved around two cars before plowing into an SUV and a sedan and crashing into a large concrete barrier.