BYD Wins Defamation Cases Against Chinese Auto Influencers

Staying On Top

In any industry, getting to the top is hard, but staying there is even harder. Apart from the rise in competition, changes in demand, and market shifts, another key obstacle is the haters, or skeptics.

BYD has rapidly become a major player in the automotive world. From humble beginnings, it has shot up in the past few years to become the number 1 battery-electric car brand in the world. In fact, BYD’s paradigm-changing Blade Battery technology is even used by Tesla in some of its cars in various regions around the world.

However, there are those who’ve come to view BYD from a different perspective and have even gone public to point out where the brand falls short, prompting BYD to fight back.

Hearsay

BYD has just won a few major milestone cases against some of China’s “High-Profile” automotive influencers. Apparently, these influencers published defamatory statements against the brand and its products across their platforms. The official BYD Legal Department even posted a summary of the case and its judgment on the brand’s Weibo account.

BYD Legal argued that the claims made by these personalities regarding cell performance metrics, sales figures, and financial tracking data were incorrect. Furthermore, it is stated that the entire litigation process involved systematic real-world testing to disprove the “unjust social media assertions.”

Penalties

Tiger Wolf Cars was ordered to give a public apology and pay $30,900 in damages after it made insulting and defamatory statements about BYD, while Zhengren Talks Cars and Solid-State Batteries Are Here were ordered to pay $14,700 for issuing false statements. All three entities were also asked to make public retractions after the judgment was handed down.

Next up was 987 Crazy Dad, who spread false information claiming that BYD produced cars using inferior materials, leading to quality problems. It was ordered that this page pay $12,500 and make an apology. Rounding out the list is Xiaoyu Doesn’t Understand Cars, which made statements alleging that BYD was engaging in dubious business practices, including sales and financial fraud; the penalty was $8,100. There were also rulings against Hippo War God and Zhang Bin Plays Off-Road for defamatory remarks, and they were ordered to issue public apologies.