Content Creator Fined Billions of Rupiah after Spreading Rumors about BYD, GWM, and Xpeng

Xpeng electric car (doc. Carnewschina).

JAKARTA - A number of Chinese car manufacturers, namely BYD, Great Wall Motor (GWM), and Xpeng, have won civil lawsuits against social media content creators. The court ruled that the content creators were proven to have spread libelous material.

The court's ruling requires the removal of the problematic content, and the delivery of an open apology. In addition, it is required to pay compensation in the amount of 283 thousand US dollars or the equivalent of Rp. 4.7 billion.

In a report by China Central Television (CCTV), which was reported on Saturday, December 13, 2025, reported that the ruling was part of a series of cases that have become legally binding. In which, the court stated that content creators violated the reputation rights of automotive manufacturers through misleading and unverifiable information.

English:

In the BYD case, an account named Longzhu Jiche was known for almost five years to consistently publish insulting and defamatory content. The court found that the account used edited and unrelated footage of a fire related to BYD products.

Then, the content falsely linked it to a spontaneous burning incident of a BYD vehicle. The second-level ruling confirmed that the action violated the company's reputation rights.

The account is required to delete all related content, make a public apology, and pay economic compensation of 2.0187 million yuan. A similar case befell Great Wall Motor.

Dayange Shuoche's account was judged to have repeatedly published content that was insulting and damaging to the company's image. The court judged that the upload exceeded the limits of reasonable public supervision and fell into the category of defamation.

The ruling requires the deletion of the video, an open apology, and the payment of compensation of 200 thousand yuan or about 28 thousand US dollars. Meanwhile, Xpeng also won a lawsuit against the account of Long Laoshi Jiang Dianche.

The account spread unverified claims, including allegations of water ingress batteries and denial of warranty claims. The court stated that the information was not true and violated Xpeng's reputation rights.

The account in question was ordered to delete all related videos, publish an apology on all platforms, and pay compensation of 100 thousand yuan or about 14 thousand US dollars.

Outside of civil cases, the CCTV report also touched on a separate crackdown on artificial intelligence (AI) based slander content. In one case, an AI-generated video that was mistakenly associated with an Xpeng vehicle circulated widely during the Guangzhou Motor Show.

The local police confirmed that the video was the result of AI engineering. The individual responsible was subject to an administrative detention sanction for 10 days. This action was taken separately from the civil lawsuit filed by Xpeng.

The series of cases is considered in line with the tightening of regulatory supervision. On December 11, 2025, the China Cyberspace Administration released the second set of typical cases related to online violations in the automotive industry.

The focus of the action includes intentional defamation, the spread of false information, and the falsification of reviews. All of these are considered to be patterns of coordinated uploads across accounts and the practice of monetizing harmful content.

English: