{"id":2272,"date":"2025-06-10T17:12:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-10T17:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/seabrave.com\/?p=2272"},"modified":"2025-06-11T16:48:39","modified_gmt":"2025-06-11T16:48:39","slug":"post-the-wrong-thing-online-and-this-automaker-might-come-after-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/seabrave.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/10\/post-the-wrong-thing-online-and-this-automaker-might-come-after-you\/","title":{"rendered":"Post The Wrong Thing Online And This Automaker Might Come After You"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><img width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image lazyload\" alt=\"\" style=\"margin-bottom: 15px\" loading=\"lazy\" data-src=\"http:\/\/seabrave.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/refgwvcd-1024x576-1.jpg\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-18 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:100%\">\n<ul>\n<li>BYD has reportedly sued 37 influencers in China for sharing defamatory social media content.<\/li>\n<li>Another 126 accounts are under investigation, with an open call for public whistleblower tips.<\/li>\n<li>The Chinese automaker is offering rewards ranging from $7,000 to $700,000 for credible leads.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Some automakers respond to criticism with a press release or maybe a quiet product update. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.carscoops.com\/tag\/byd\/\">BYD<\/a>, on the other hand, is choosing to take a more combative route through the courts. The Chinese carmaking giant is reportedly suing 37 influencers and placing another 126 social media accounts under internal investigation for defamation. The company says it won&rsquo;t stop there. <\/p>\n<div class=\"ad-placement\">\n<div id=\"82503191-e1d1-435a-874f-9c78a2a54a2f\" class=\"_ap_apex_ad\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"0f7e3106-c4d6-4db4-8135-c508879a76f8\" class=\"_ap_apex_ad\"><\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t\tvar adpushup = window.adpushup  = window.adpushup || {que:[]};<br \/>\n\t\t\t\tadpushup.que.push(function() {<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\tif (adpushup.config.platform !== &#8220;DESKTOP&#8221;){<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tadpushup.triggerAd(&#8220;0f7e3106-c4d6-4db4-8135-c508879a76f8&#8221;);<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t} else {<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tadpushup.triggerAd(&#8220;82503191-e1d1-435a-874f-9c78a2a54a2f&#8221;);<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t}<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t});<\/p><\/div>\n<p>It also plans to continue taking legal action against individuals or organizations it accuses of spreading false claims and is offering significant financial rewards to whistleblowers who provide credible leads.<\/p>\n<p><strong>More: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.carscoops.com\/2025\/04\/chinese-automakers-fly-in-a-record-number-of-foreign-influencers-to-shanghai-auto-show\/\">Chinese Brands Fly In Record Number Of Foreign Journos And Influencers To Shanghai Show<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In a statement posted to Weibo, BYD&rsquo;s legal department described the situation as a series of &ldquo;repeated, organized, and malicious online attacks,&rdquo; which it claims are being carried out by unnamed media outlets and PR firms. These attacks, according to BYD, have &ldquo;seriously damaged the company&rsquo;s reputation, disrupted the market order, and had a negative impact on the healthy development of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.carscoops.com\/tag\/industry\">industry<\/a>.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<div id=\"taboola-mid-article\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"taboola-mid-article-thumbnails-organic\"><\/div>\n<p><strong>Specific Allegations and Platforms Targeted<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The company pointed to several examples involving influencers active on major Chinese platforms like WeChat and Weibo. Some posts allegedly made false claims about BYD&rsquo;s financial status, while others <a href=\"https:\/\/www.carscoops.com\/2025\/05\/byds-suv-rips-off-genesis-so-hard-youll-do-a-double-take\/\">criticized the brand&rsquo;s vehicles<\/a> as being overpriced, poorly built, or lacking in safety. In one notable case, a user accused BYD of manipulating influencers, an allegation the company denies.<\/p>\n<p>So far, courts have ruled in BYD&rsquo;s favor in some instances. Several individuals have been ordered to issue public apologies and pay damages. The amounts awarded were &yen;60,000 (around $8,400) and &yen;100,000 (about $13,900), though other cases are still moving through the legal system.<\/p>\n<p>        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.carscoops.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/BYD-Dolphin-Surf-00001.jpg\" data-type=\"inarticle-image-block\"> <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\n<p>                    <img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"lazy \" src=\"\" alt=\" Post The Wrong Thing Online And This Automaker Might Come After You\" width=\"2400\" height=\"1418\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.carscoops.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/BYD-Dolphin-Surf-00001-1024x605.jpg\" data-type=\"inarticle-image\" \/><figcaption>BYD Dolphin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>        <\/a>  <\/p>\n<p><strong>Whistleblower Program and Financial Incentives<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In a move that blurs the line between corporate legal strategy and crowd-sourced investigation, BYD asked the public to report potential defamatory content through its dedicated &ldquo;News Anti-Fraud Office&rdquo;. Verified reports could earn rewards ranging from &yen;50,000 ($7,000) to as much as &yen;5,000,000 ($700,000), depending on how impactful the information is.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad-placement\">\n<div id=\"9b1169d9-7a89-4971-a77f-1397f7588751\" class=\"_ap_apex_ad\"> <\/div>\n<div id=\"bb7964e9-07de-4b06-a83e-ead35079d53c\" class=\"_ap_apex_ad\"> <\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t\tvar adpushup = window.adpushup  = window.adpushup || {que:[]};<br \/>\n\t\t\t\tadpushup.que.push(function() {<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\tif (adpushup.config.platform !== &#8220;DESKTOP&#8221;){<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tadpushup.triggerAd(&#8220;bb7964e9-07de-4b06-a83e-ead35079d53c&#8221;);<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t} else {<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tadpushup.triggerAd(&#8220;9b1169d9-7a89-4971-a77f-1397f7588751&#8221;);<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t}<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t});<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>More: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.carscoops.com\/2025\/02\/tesla-suing-its-own-customers-and-critical-journalists-to-silence-negative-comments-and-its-winning-report-finds\/\">Tesla Suing Customers And Journalists To Silence Critical Reviews, And It&rsquo;s Winning, Report Finds<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/carnewschina.com\/2025\/06\/05\/byd-hits-back-37-influencers-sued-over-online-defamation-690000-usd-rewards-for-leads\/\">Car News China<\/a>, Li Yunfei, General Manager of BYD&rsquo;s Branding and PR departments, emphasized that the company welcomes &ldquo;media criticism and public oversight, but we will not tolerate defamatory content or false accusations&rdquo;. He also noted that all relevant posts and comments are being preserved as legal evidence.<\/p>\n<p>BYD&rsquo;s legal offensive reflects a growing trend among <a href=\"http:\/\/China\">Chinese<\/a> automakers to defend their brands more aggressively online. Just recently, Avatr filed a $1.4 million lawsuit against a local blogger over accusations about exaggerated drag coefficient claims. While some see this as a necessary step to counter misinformation, it also risks turning legitimate scrutiny into a legal minefield, where speaking out could come with a price tag.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad-placement\">\n<div id=\"9b1169d9-7a89-4971-a77f-1397f7588751\" class=\"_ap_apex_ad\"> <\/div>\n<div id=\"bb7964e9-07de-4b06-a83e-ead35079d53c\" class=\"_ap_apex_ad\"> <\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t\tvar adpushup = window.adpushup  = window.adpushup || {que:[]};<br \/>\n\t\t\t\tadpushup.que.push(function() {<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\tif (adpushup.config.platform !== &#8220;DESKTOP&#8221;){<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tadpushup.triggerAd(&#8220;bb7964e9-07de-4b06-a83e-ead35079d53c&#8221;);<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t} else {<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tadpushup.triggerAd(&#8220;9b1169d9-7a89-4971-a77f-1397f7588751&#8221;);<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t}<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t});<\/p><\/div>\n<p>        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.carscoops.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/BYD-Sea-Lion-06-China-1.jpg\" data-type=\"inarticle-image-block\"> <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\n<p>                    <img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"lazy \" src=\"\" alt=\" Post The Wrong Thing Online And This Automaker Might Come After You\" width=\"2500\" height=\"1406\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.carscoops.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/BYD-Sea-Lion-06-China-1-1024x576.jpg\" data-type=\"inarticle-image\" \/><figcaption>BYD Sea Lion 06<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>        <\/a>  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BYD has reportedly sued 37 influencers in China for sharing defamatory social media content. Another 126 accounts are under investigation, &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/seabrave.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/10\/post-the-wrong-thing-online-and-this-automaker-might-come-after-you\/\" class=\"more-link\"><span class=\"more-button\">Continue Reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Post The Wrong Thing Online And This Automaker Might Come After You<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2274,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/seabrave.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2272"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/seabrave.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/seabrave.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/seabrave.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/seabrave.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2272"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/seabrave.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2272\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2275,"href":"http:\/\/seabrave.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2272\/revisions\/2275"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/seabrave.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/seabrave.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/seabrave.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/seabrave.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}