Defamation lawsuits should be 'warning' to new media providers

Three lawsuits lodged by Chinese conglomerates Alibaba and Dalian Wanda in the past week over allegedly fabricated articles and false attribution are a warning to operators of social media subscription services to abide by the law in the booming new-media environment, experts said.

Alibaba Group Holding, China's Internet giant, sued Today Evening, a Tianjin-based newspaper, and Fujian Yihong Dabaihao Tea Co on Wednesday after both published articles via WeChat critical of Alibaba's behemoth online market, Taobao, and Chairman Jack Ma.

Alibaba demanded that the operators providing the information streams to WeChat make a public apology, delete the articles and pay compensation of 10 million yuan ($1.56 million).

Another information stream on WeChat, run by two Shanghai-based companies that allegedly forwarded the articles without verification, were sued by Alibaba, which seeks to hold them jointly liable. Alibaba lodged the lawsuits in Shanghai. Courts in Qingpu and Baoshan districts said they received the two cases.

Experts in communication said such lawsuits should serve as a warning to those who disseminate information online in the era of social media.

"The lawsuits also work as models of how enterprises and individuals can safeguard themselves and deter unethical online media that believe in sensationalism and don't understand the negative consequences," said Cheng Manli, deputy dean of the School of Journalism and Communication at Peking University.

Yi Shenghua, a lawyer at Yingke Law Firm in Beijing, said those who published such articles online face civil action at least, and it could turn into a criminal offense if the article is forwarded 500 times or generates page views of 5,000 and above.

"Although the media platforms cannot verify each article when they're published, they ought to cooperate when someone applies to delete some information, especially when it's obviously attacking and negative. Otherwise they will assume liability," Yi said.

The service run by Fujian Tea, a startup with only 77 followers on Sina Weibo, published an article after Singles Day on Nov 11 headlined: "Jack Ma refunds 57.4 billion yuan after raking in 91.2 billion yuan".

Alibaba has acknowledged that the 91.2 billion yuan sales figure is correct, but it disputes the refund figure cited in the headline, which works out to a 63 percent refund rate.

Alibaba claims the refund amount was invented with intent to harm the company.

The site operated by Today Evening published an article headlined: "The dirty tricks behind Singles Day sales: The famous brands that caused panic buying were secretly exchanged by fake ones in this way".

"To win high click rates, both articles deliberately defamed our company in the absence of factual basis, and wantonly belittled our fame. They were widely spread on WeChat and Weibo, and the company suffered enormous damage in reputation," according to a statement by Alibaba cited by thepaper.cn.

The editor's office at Today Evening declined to comment; Fujian Tea could not be reached on Thursday.

zhouwenting@chinadaily.com.cn