- BYD has reportedly sued 37 influencers in China, claiming they have made defamatory comments.
- The manufacturer has a News Anti-Fraud department where people can send tips about possible defamation and get rewards.
- Companies suing influencers for potentially damaging their image is far more common in China than it is in the West.
The relationship between automakers and the people who create content with their vehicles can sometimes be tense. However, it seldom results in legal action taken against them, and requests to change or remove content are usually about as extreme as it gets.
But not if you’re covering the world’s fastest-growing automaker over the last few years, BYD, which is reportedly taking 37 influencers to court over things they said that it deems defamatory.
CarNewsChina says BYD has also added 126 content creators to an internal watch list, and they will be monitored in the future, potentially also facing legal action from the automaker if they say something that the company sees as damaging to its image. The carmaker created a “News Anti-Fraud Office” a few years ago and it’s encouraging people to send tips about potentially damaging content.
To encourage tip-offs about potential smear campaigns, BYD is offering substantial bonuses—50,000 to 5 million yuan ($6,900 to $690,000)—for credible leads. The source lists several examples of why BYD sued influencers. In one instance, a person accused the company of manipulating content creators to say negative things about rival brands.
The court concluded that the influencer was required to make a public apology and pay a fine of 100,000 yuan (around $13,800). Another influencer was fined after making claims that BYD was financially unstable and on the verge of bankruptcy.
All of these fines pale in comparison to the August 2023 lawsuit launched by Nissan Dongfeng against an influencer who had posted over 50 videos on TikTok denigrating the automaker’s vehicles. He was asked to pay 5 million yuan in reparations to the manufacturer. In 2022, Tesla also took a Chinese influencer to court, demanding 5 million yuan in reparations, but eventually settled for a lot less.
Aside from BYD, Nissan-Dongfeng and Tesla, Great Wall Motor and Changan Automobile have also sued influencers, so it’s pretty clear that the practice is much more common in China than it is in the West. The most well-known automaker versus media lawsuit from this hemisphere is Tesla versus Top Gear, after host Jeremy Clarkson made exaggerated claims about the original Roadster back in 2008. The court ultimately dismissed the case because it couldn’t prove ill intent on Top Gear’s side.
Defamation in China is no joke, and it can be prosecuted as a criminal offense. Badmouthing major companies, which are usually state-owned affairs or deeply linked to the Communist Party, can quickly land you in serious trouble. That’s true especially if you have a big audience and even if there’s truth to the negative claims. If a Chinese company proves in court that certain comments affected its image and reputation, that may be enough for legal action against an influencer.
In other words, negative comments about BYD, regardless of whether they have substance or not, could be a career-ending event for an influencer, and the potential massive reparations demanded by some companies could also bring them to financial ruin. The message is clear: Watch what you say.