Some online accounts fabricated inaccurate information and some others consistently attacked the Nio brand and users, an announcement said.
Nio (NYSE: NIO) is suing a number of bloggers in its latest rights defense action.
The Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker's legal department said in an announcement today that online accounts, including “Super Wade,” fabricated false information, maliciously misinterpreted its business conditions, and created false information about Nio's payment cycles to suppliers.
Several other accounts have consistently posted highly misleading content and images under Nio-related content, persistently attacking Nio, degrading and insulting the Nio brand and users, the announcement said.
Nio has secured evidence regarding these behaviors and has filed lawsuits against multiple accounts in multiple courts, the company said.
Nio opened accounts dedicated to its legal department on May 8, 2023, on platforms including Weibo, WeChat, and Douyin, and began stepping up its efforts to combat false information and information involving reputation infringement.
Last year, Nio won a number of reputation infringement cases, the most high-profile of which saw Douyin account @小牛说车 ordered to apologize and compensate Nio for financial losses totaling more than RMB 600,000 yuan ($82,210).
The most recent widely circulated false information involving the company came a month ago, when a man claimed in a WeChat status that BYD (HKG: 1211, OTCMKTS: BYDDY) would buy Nio. The rumor was quickly denied by the two companies.
On November 28, Anhui Daily's Dawan News reported that a 29-year-old man surnamed Xie had been detained for creating the rumor.
On December 15, Nio's legal department said on Weibo that in addition to the man surnamed Xie, “employees of a certain automobile brand” with surnames of Chen and Pei were also detained for maliciously spreading the false information.
Nio has filed a civil lawsuit against Xie, Pei and Chen, demanding public apologies and compensation for financial losses, the company said at the time.
With the rise of emerging media platforms and the so-called self-media, companies face greater challenges in defending their reputations, making similar lawsuits more common.
Yesterday, BYD's legal department said in a Weibo post that self-media “龙猪-集车” was ordered by a court to delete infringing comments, apologize, and compensate the company for economic losses totaling RMB 2,018,700.
The blogger has been making insulting and defamatory remarks about BYD for a long time, and has seriously distorted truths, which constitutes an infringement of BYD's right to reputation, the announcement said.
($1 = RMB 7.2985)
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