On September 2nd, BYD’s Legal Department released a Weibo post stating that the self-media account “Longzhu – Jiche” and its related accounts have been found guilty of infringement in the first instance judgment for long-term publication of a large amount of false, insulting and defamatory information about BYD. The defendant was ordered to make an apology, delete the infringing remarks, and compensate BYD for economic losses totaling 2.0187 million yuan; the second instance upheld the original judgment. At the same time, BYD’s Legal Department said that recently, through the court’s compulsory execution, the compensation amount of 2.0187 million yuan has been received, and the actual controller of the self-media “Longzhu – Jiche” and related accounts has submitted a written apology to BYD.
In response, Li Yunfei, General Manager of BYD Group’s Brand and Public Relations Department, reposted the Weibo and said: “BYD has reached its current position and scale. If there are media reports and criticisms based on objective facts, it’s all okay! We can also accept that some media, out of ignorance or misunderstanding, release relevant content! But we will never tolerate those ‘black public relations’ and ‘black media’ that deliberately slander and target BYD for the sake of smearing.”
It is understood that the self-media “Longzhu – Jiche” is a well-known automotive blogger. The case of BYD suing “Longzhu – Jiche” can be traced back to July 24th, 2023. At that time, BYD’s Legal Department issued its first statement, indicating that the Sina Weibo user “Longzhu – Jiche” had long published a large amount of false information, maliciously slandered and insulted BYD, causing serious damage to BYD’s brand reputation. In this regard, the company collected and fixed a large number of evidences, reported clues about its suspected “black public relations” to relevant departments, and decided to formally sue “Longzhu – Jiche”, demanding it to delete relevant infringing remarks, make a public apology and compensate 5 million yuan. On December 27th, 2024, BYD’s Legal Department stated that the court’s first instance judgment confirmed that the defendant had long made insulting and defamatory remarks against BYD, with serious acts of distorting facts, which constituted an infringement on BYD’s reputation. The defendant was ordered to delete the infringing remarks, make an apology, and compensate BYD for economic losses totaling 2.0187 million yuan.
In recent years, with the vigorous development of the Internet and new energy vehicles, the new energy vehicle industry has received increasing attention, and the public opinion environment has become more complex. Especially in the era of popular short videos, some media and bloggers, in order to attract attention and gain traffic to make profits, do not hesitate to exaggerate the truth, even fabricate online rumors, arbitrarily create smears and groundless slanders against car companies. As a result, car companies are frequently infringed by online rumors and other behaviors. Once these false remarks and improper behaviors are widely spread, they not only damage the reputation and image of car companies, but also seriously affect their normal development. Previously, BYD’s Legal Department also stated: “It has repeatedly been subjected to organized, planned and rhythmic malicious attacks and rumors by online ‘black media’ and ‘black public relations’. These false information and remarks have seriously damaged the company’s reputation, disrupted the market order, and had a negative impact on the healthy development of the industry.”
Although the Internet is highly developed now, cyberspace is not a place outside the law, nor is it a hotbed for rumors and malicious rumors. Any act of spreading rumors and damaging the reputation of enterprises through online platforms will be subject to legal sanctions.
In the Weibo post released this time, BYD’s Legal Department pointed out: “BYD has always respected and accepted suggestions and supervision from all sectors of society, but the Internet is not a lawless place. BYD will continue to use legal means to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the enterprise against any form of insult, rumor-mongering, smearing and other infringing acts.” Li Yunfei also said that a number of “black media” will be sued this week.
