Man spreads rumors about BYD, publicly apologizes and pays compensation.
[4] Compiled from: Red Star News
BYD Network Reporting Center announced that on April 12, 2022, after the final judgment of the second instance of the reputation rights dispute case filed by BYD Company Limited (hereinafter referred to as BYD) against Gou Mou (formerly the Toutiao account “Anti-BYD Pyramid Scheme Group Fan Dong”, which has been canceled), Gou Mou has apologized to BYD on the Toutiao platform and in the announcement column of Issue No. 13189 of Legal Daily, and paid 30,000 yuan in compensation.
Case review
Previously, Gou registered an account on the Jinri Toutiao platform under the name “Anti-BYD Pyramid Scheme Group Director Fan” and posted multiple false statements in the comment sections of various articles, such as “It is everyone’s responsibility to combat BYD’s pyramid schemes” and “BYD talks about comfort? So poor, like a frog in a well.” These negative remarks about BYD caused readers, consumers, and the general public to form negative opinions and adverse impressions of BYD, thereby infringing upon BYD’s right of reputation.
According to the court's civil judgment, Gou was ordered to pay BYD 30,000 yuan in compensation for economic losses and to publish an apology statement in China Legal Daily or another national newspaper of equivalent standing and on Jinri Toutiao or another online media outlet of equivalent standing, so as to eliminate the adverse impact on BYD.
Civil Code of the People's Republic of China
Article 1024
Civil subjects enjoy the right to reputation. No organization or individual may infringe upon others’ right to reputation by means of insult, defamation, or the like.
Reputation refers to the social evaluation of a civil subject’s moral character, prestige, talent, credit, and the like.
"Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China"
Article 246: Crime of Insult and Crime of Defamation
Whoever publicly insults another person by violence or other methods, or fabricates facts to defame another person, if the circumstances are serious, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention, public surveillance, or deprivation of political rights.
The crime mentioned in the preceding paragraph shall be handled only upon complaint, except where it seriously endangers social order or national interests.
Where an act prescribed in the first paragraph is committed through information networks, and the victim files a complaint with a people's court but has genuine difficulty in providing evidence, the people's court may request public security organs to provide assistance.
[1] The author's perspective
In this case, the infringer, Gou, made false comments about BYD online in text form, causing a decline in BYD's social reputation. The nature of these comments can be described as fabricating something out of nothing, thereby damaging BYD's reputation. Gou must pay the price for his actions.
In daily life, if our right to reputation is infringed upon, we can request the people's court to take the following protective measures: cease the infringement; restore reputation and eliminate adverse effects; make a formal apology; and compensate for losses. In fact, such insulting and defamatory behavior may not only constitute a civil tort but could also amount to a criminal offense. Moreover, although the internet may seem virtual, with current technological means and regulatory capabilities, identifying the real person behind such actions is not difficult. Therefore, one must be careful with their words.
