China’s giant BYD announced on Friday that it has sued twelve social media accounts for posting “false, untrue, and maliciously misleading information” about the company.
Through a post on Chinese social media platform WeChat, BYD‘s News Fact-Checking Office said that these accounts had spread false information and/or maliciously defamed the company on social media.
BYD further emphasized that it will continue to use legal means to defend the company’s legitimate rights and interests.
The Shenzhen-based company introduced in 2021 a rewards offer to those who report on these accounts and on whistleblowers from within the company.
According to the policy, the company is paying providers of information from 50,000 to 5 million yuan ($7,000 to $700,000).
Several Chinese carmakers have set up dedicated legal accounts on social media over the last few years to fight misinformation and organized PR attacks from competitors.
Two months ago, BYD‘s General Manager of Brand and Public Relations Li Yunfei said that PR attacks and defamation the company faced were “several times worse than what Nio has experienced.”
The China giant had announced earlier this year that it was suing 37 influencer accounts and placing an additional 126 under internal surveillance, claiming it had been the target of defamation.
Li Yunfei was referring to Nio CEO William Li’s claim that the EV maker was spending between 30 million and 50 million yuan ($4.2 million to $7 million) per month to counter organized online disinformation.
This Wednesday, Nio announced it is suing another five accounts for maliciously defaming the brand online, less than a month after it said it had sued seven bloggers in China after noticing “a large number of online accounts fabricating information out of thin air to attack” both its core and Onvo brands.
In July, XPeng‘s VP of Marketing Thomas Yu warned that the automaker had set up a special task force to to crack down on what he described as long-term, profit-driven smear campaigns.
The brand said that it has won a defamation case against a company spreading misinformation about its brand.
Li Auto has also alleged to be a victim of a smear campaign as the brand launched its second fully electric model, the Li i8 SUV.
Founder and CEO Li Xiang said earlier this month that Li Auto is aware of the smear campaign it has been targeted with, claiming he knows which “brand” is behind it.
BYD announced this Friday that the upcoming Tai 7 SUV, from its luxury brand Fang Cheng Bao, will launch next month.
The first units are expected to arrive in select showrooms by the end of August.
