Public apology for defamation of goodwill in the circle of friends
□ Our reporter Huang Hui
□ Correspondent Tao Ran
WeChat groups and Moments are not "outside the law." Citizens also need to abide by the laws and regulations of the country in the cyberspace such as WeChat groups and Moments.
Recently, the Xihu District People’s Court of Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province concluded a dispute over reputation rights. The defendant Qian Mou slandered the company’s goodwill in the circle of friends. The court ordered Qian to post in writing and publish an apology statement in WeChat Moments for 3 consecutive days. A public apology to the plaintiff, a real estate company, Li Jia, and Li Yi.
The court found that a real estate company and a construction company were the real estate sellers and developers involved in the case, Li Jia and Li Yi were the legal representatives and shareholders of a real estate company, and Qian was the owner of a shop in the real estate involved in the case.
Because the shop failed to deliver the house, file for the record, and apply for the real estate certificate, after negotiation failed, Qian shouted in the sales department: "There is no real estate certificate in the store, and Li Jia and Li Yi, the owners of a real estate company, are big liars" and so on. The aforesaid propaganda was recorded as a small video and posted on its WeChat Moments, accompanied by words such as "A certain real estate company Li Jia and Li Yi are big liars".
The number of Qian’s WeChat circle of friends reached more than 4,000, and it caused other owners to come to the sales department to watch.
The three plaintiffs sued the court and demanded Qian to issue a statement of apology and compensate 200,000 yuan for the loss.
The court held that Qian was dissatisfied with the handling of the store’s matters. He could have claimed rights through negotiation, litigation and other legitimate means, but the way he used to discredit the plaintiff’s reputation to a certain extent reduced the social evaluation of the plaintiff by the WeChat circle of friends and violated The plaintiff’s right of reputation.
The plaintiff told Qian to apologize publicly, which was reasonable and legal, and supported it.
In addition, in this case, there is no evidence showing the serious consequences of the damage caused by the infringement and the actual damage, so the plaintiff’s claim for compensation of 200,000 yuan is not supported.
Accordingly, the court made the above judgment in accordance with the law.
The judge said after the court that the use of language, text, video and other methods to degrade the personality of others in the virtual space of the network, leading to a decline in the social evaluation of others, will constitute a network reputation infringement.
The Civil Code stipulates that if the perpetrator bears the civil liability for eliminating the impact, restoring his reputation, or apologizing for infringement of the right of personality, it shall be commensurate with the specific method of the behavior and the scope of the impact caused.
In this case, Qian arbitrarily slandered the plaintiff in his WeChat circle of friends, knowing that many other owners of the real estate in the WeChat circle of friends, to a certain extent, belittle and slander the company of the plaintiff, causing the public to have a sense of distrust of the three plaintiffs. Infringement of the constitutional elements of the right of reputation, the court therefore made the above judgment.