BYD, GWM & XPeng Wins Court Battle Versus Online ‘Creators’ In China

Leading Chinese automakers BYD, XPeng and GWM recently took several online content 'creators' in China to court for publishing defamatory content.

Leading Chinese automakers BYD, Great Wall Motor (GWM) and XPeng have all recently won civil court rulings in China against online content creators. Said cases not only involved influencer entities as one case even involved content created using Artificial Intelligence (AI). 

In a recent report published by state-owned broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV), a series of finalised court rulings were published. Through which, online content creators accused in these cases were found to have published defamatory materials against the carmakers named.

The ensuing judgement required these creators to delete content, issue apologies, as well as pony up financial compensation.

One clear cut case involved BYD and an online account called Longzhu Jiche. The latter was found to have published insulting and defamatory content online over a 5-year period.

One case detailed in said CCTV report saw carmaker BYD act against an online account called Longzhu Jiche. The latter was found by the court to have published insulting and defamatory content online about the carmaker over a 5-year period.

Detailed in the report too was how said account used edited fire-related footage unrelated to BYD to falsely claim spontaneous combustion incidents. A second-instance ruling also determined that the conduct constituted an infringement of BYD’s reputation rights.

As such, the court ruled in the carmaker’s favour, thus ordering Longzhu Jiche to firstly delete and remove said content before issuing a formal and public apology to the automaker. On top of which, said account was ordered to compensate BYD financially for economic losses amounting to RMB2.0817 million (approx. RM1,170,242).

Another carmaker attacked by a similar entity online that published derogatory content slamming it was GWM. The automaker eventually won with court-ordered content deletion, apology and financial compensation.

Similarly, another case saw carmaker GWM act against an account called Dayange Shuoche. The latter had repeatedly published derogatory content aimed at the automaker, and the court ruled that the content exceeded the scope of routine public oversight, constituting reputational harm.

In turn, said account not only had to delete content and publicly apologise, but it was also ordered by the court to pay a compensation fee amounting to RMB 200,000 (approx. RM115,940) to the automaker mentioned.

Also attacked as upstart Chinese automaker XPeng. It also won court-ordered content deletion, public apology plus financial compensation from another online 'creator' account.

A third case detailed in CCTV’s report involved XPeng and an account called Long Laoshi Jiang Dianche. The court found the latter had published unverified claims, including allegations of battery water ingress and refusal of warranty coverage.

Said account was then ordered by the court to delete all infringing videos, issue an apology across all platforms, as well as compensate the automaker financially to the tune of RMB100,000 (approx. RM57,970).

Apart from defamation by an online 'creator', XPeng was also the victim of misinformation involving an AI-generated video that circulated during the recent Guangzhou Auto Show period.

Apart from civil rulings, separate enforcement actions were also cited against AI-generated defamatory content. One case saw an AI-generated video falsely associated with XPeng vehicles that circulated online during the recent Guangzhou Auto Show period.

Investigation by local police had determined that said video was fabricated using AI, and the individual responsible for which was detained for 10 days. Ultimately, this action was handled separately from the civil compensation.