BYD, Great Wall Motor, and XPeng have won civil court rulings against online content creators who published defamatory material. The judgments required the deletion of content, public apologies, and monetary compensation of up to 2.0187 million yuan (approximately 283,000 USD). China Central Television has reported a series of finalised court rulings in which online content creators were found to have published defamatory material targeting the automakers.
According to the report, the online account Longzhu Jiche published insulting and defamatory content about BYD over approximately 5 years. The court found that the account used edited fire-related footage unrelated to BYD vehicles to claim that spontaneous combustion incidents occurred falsely. A second-instance ruling determined that the conduct constituted an infringement of BYD’s reputation rights. The judgment ordered the deletion of the infringing content, publication of a public apology, and compensation for economic losses totalling 2.0187 million yuan, equivalent to approximately 283,000 USD.
Another case involved the account Dayange Shuoche, which repeatedly published derogatory content targeting Great Wall Motor. The court ruled that the content exceeded the scope of routine public oversight and constituted reputational harm. The judgment required the removal of the related videos, the issuance of a public apology, and the payment of 200,000 yuan (approximately 28,000 USD) in economic compensation to Great Wall Motor.
The report also detailed a case involving XPeng. The account Long Laoshi Jiang Dianche was found to have published unverified claims, including allegations of battery water ingress and a refusal of warranty coverage. The court found the information false and that it infringed XPeng’s reputation rights. The ruling required the deletion of all infringing videos, the publication of an apology across platforms, and payment of 100,000 yuan (about 14,000 USD) in compensation.
In addition to the civil rulings, the program cited separate enforcement actions related to AI-generated defamatory content. In one case, an AI-generated video falsely associated with XPeng vehicles circulated online during the Guangzhou Auto Show period. Local police later confirmed that the video was fabricated using AI technology, and the individual responsible was placed under administrative detention for 10 days. This action was handled separately from the civil compensation ruling involving XPeng.
The report noted that such cases coincide with broader regulatory measures. On December 11, the Cyberspace Administration of China released a second batch of typical cases addressing online misconduct in the automotive industry. The actions target malicious defamation, the dissemination of false information, and the fabrication of evaluations, with regulators identifying patterns such as coordinated posting across multiple accounts and the monetisation of harmful content.
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