Chinese actress Yu Shuxin is extremely popular, but in recent years has repeatedly been caught up in negative news, with her family's business also getting embroiled in a tax evasion scandal. Yu Shuxin's father, Yu Pijie, previously sued a senior high school student for defamation, but on the 19th the court issued a formal verdict: not only did he lose the case, he also had to pay the litigation fees. He has been accused of deliberately suing a minor high school student rather than more influential bloggers, allegedly to avoid addressing the family's asset issues.
Yu Pijie sued a senior high school student for infringement of reputation rights. The Tongshan District Court of Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Province issued an official judgment on the 19th, dismissing all of Yu Pijie’s claims and ordering him to pay the case acceptance fee of 400 RMB (about 232 ringgit). This case originated from the defendant reposting remarks online involving controversial topics such as “1.5 billion in state-owned assets.” Yu Pijie demanded compensation totaling 170,000 RMB (about 98,000 ringgit), including damages for mental anguish, economic losses, and legal costs.
However, the first-instance judgment made it clear that the content reposted by the defendant fell within the scope of public discussion, aimed at exercising the right of citizen supervision, and was not malicious fabrication or defamation of others. Therefore, it was determined not to constitute an infringement of reputation rights. Considering the defendant is a minor about to take the college entrance exam, the court held that forcing the defendant to open his Weibo comment section for a public apology might result in further online bullying, emphasizing that public figures and their families should not excessively restrict reasonable public discussion.
As the news of the defeat spread, there has been a growing public outcry criticizing Yu Pijie for “abusing litigation rights” to suppress free expression. Many questioned why he specifically sued a minor student instead of bloggers with much larger followings, suspecting it was an attempt to divert attention from the source of the family's assets. Some netizens even mocked, “using the law as a PR tool, but ending up paying 400 RMB instead.”
Source: ETtoday Star Cloud