BYD Is Suing 37 Influencers

BYD may be the top selling EV producer in the world, and it may totally dominate the Chinese EV market, but that doesn’t mean it gets praise and respect by everyone. Apparently, though, according to BYD, it’s been unfairly smeared and lied about by a few dozen social media influencers.

Yesterday, BYD’s legal department published an official statement on its WeChat channel indicating that it’s taking legal action against 37 influencer accounts, while also noting that it has put another 126 under internal surveillance. The company will be watching to see if these accounts post disinformation and damaging content about BYD.

“We welcome media criticism and public oversight, but we will not tolerate defamatory content or false accusations,” Li Yunfei, General Manager of BYD’s Branding and PR Department, stated. “Legal action will continue.”

“In the statement, BYD said it has faced repeated online attacks in recent years involving false or misleading information that it claims has harmed its brand image, disrupted market order, and negatively affected the wider automotive sector,” CarNewsChina reports. “While BYD has described these incidents as ‘organised’ or ‘coordinated,’ it has not provided public evidence supporting the coordination of such efforts.”

BYD’s legal team even went as far as to cite several previous legal cases in which influencers were found guilty of defaming BYD.

BYD is also providing financial incentives — from 50,000 to 5 million yuan (~$7,000 to ~700,000) — for verified leads related to online defamation of BYD.

Interesting times. …