On November 5, the Beijing Internet Court announced the preliminary verdict of an internet infringement liability dispute between Yang Zi and Lou XX. The case was filed on the 27th May this year.
The defendant Lou XX published four blog posts which was alleged to have defamed Yang Zi. Those posts consist of such remarks as “obsessive marketing”, “internet non-celebrity”, “bringing harm to others”, and “getting angry because [she] is unable to rank of hot search despite seeking attention”, “vicious”, “doing all kinds of evil”, “with an evil intention to bully”, “demon” and other insulting words.
The defendant argued that Yang Zi is a public figure who should have a certain tolerance for criticism and duties. As a Kris Wu fan, the netizen who is being sued is not a media personality or a celebrity and was only able to [spread defamatory comments] influencing fellow fans of Kris Wu at best. They also claimed that Yang Zi’s claims for damages is too high.
The court ultimately did not seem convinced by the netizen’s legal defense and ultimately sentenced them to apologize publicly and to also compensate Yang Zi for financial losses and reasonable expenditures of 30,000RMB. On top of that the court also awarded damages to Yang Zi for emotional distress amounting to 35,000RMB.
As a result of the netizen’s defamatory comments, Yang Zi will be awarded 65 000RMB in damages.
Sources: (1)
