Secretly recorded chats sink executive's defamation case

A company executive in Beijing lost a lawsuit against a former employee for alleged insults and defamation after a court ruled the evidence was illegally obtained.

In May 2021, following the employee's dismissal, the superior reclaimed the employee's office computer. When the employee, unable to access the company premises, remotely logged out of WeChat on the office computer, the company executive accessed and recorded the employee's WeChat conversations while the computer was offline.

The evidence presented indicated that the employee had created a WeChat group and, in February 2021, used derogatory language, including terms such as "the boss lacks management skills" and "two-faced," to insult and defame the executive.

The executive, who was not named, sued the employee for using offensive language to discuss them with colleagues online. The executive sought a written apology and compensation for emotional distress.

However, the court dismissed the case because the executive obtained the evidence, online conversations between the employee and colleagues, by secretly accessing the employee's company computer after they were fired.

The employee argued the chat group was private and used for venting frustrations with company management, not for work purposes. The court agreed that the executive's actions violated the employee's privacy, rendering the evidence inadmissible.

After the verdict, neither party appealed, and the judgment became final.

Lawyer Lin Xiaoming advised that insulted parties should seek alternative methods for gathering evidence, such as witness testimony or collecting public remarks.