No.
It's a container for image data developed by Moving Picture Experts Group ("MPEG", try to guess what else they have created).
While there are some compatibility issues between vendors HEIC still offers a greater set of features as compared to fx JFIF (you probably know it as JPEG/JPG.
Apple was one of the early adopters (2017) and (as usual?) the industry has followed. Microsoft wants money for the codec in Windows and that's probably one of the reasons why it's not commonly used...yet.
There are plenty of water to bend the rules in Sweden too. Sweden always sounds like the utopia when the press describes things like this.
Journalists also wants food on the table and roof over their heads I guess....
I'm not saying that Polestar didn't follow the Swedish modell in Sweden. They most likely do.
However, if the subject is Chinese car manufacturers in the context of working against unions I think it's most honest to put Polestar in the box marked Chinese since the majority of their employees are in fact employed in China and the owning company is Chinese.
I'm swedish and as a Swede I've always been sort of proud of IKEA being Swedish. But then again... Was IKEA really Swedish when the founder was living in Switzerland, the company was owned by a foundation in some other country and a majority of the products were produced in other countries than Sweden?
What I'm trying to say is that Polestar, as many other companies, is Shrödingers Swedish company .. it's both Swedish and not Swedish at the same time ...
I'm pretty sure they are less than "thousands". Wild guess... Maybe around 788?
Polestar has white collar staff here. Finance, marketing, design etc.
Maybe the reason why the Swedish unions aren't having massive strikes with Polestar workers might be slightly related to the fact that the are no Swedish workers in Polestar?
It is headquartered in Torslanda outside Gothenburg, Sweden. Its vehicles are produced in China, home to Volvo's corporate parent Geely.
For you outside Sweden: There is no such thing as minimum wage. It's perfectly legal to hire someone for 0 SEK / month.
The whole idea is that a collective agreement should be negotiated and agreed upon by the employers and employees in each business area (like telecom, healthcare, factory workers, electricians etc etc). The idea is that the employers and employees, not the politicians, knows more about what their market/business area requires and is able to deliver in the form of minimum wage, yearly salary increase, vacation and overtime (among other things) .
Here's the thing that often is different in discusions like the one about Tesla refusing to sign a collective agreement: Collective agreements only limits the minimums. So the only reason to refuse to sign is if you intend to keep some thing below the levels that are the norm in your business area.
Essentially, you're trying to get unfair competitive advantage.
What do you recommend that is exploit free?
What device/ Operating System are you trying to watch the images on?