Your current location >> Cases
Platform Failed to Take Necessary Measures to Promptly Deal with Infringing Content
[2020-08-24]

   

Court: Platform Shall be Jointly Liable for Additional Harm

With the rapid development of the Internet, people can now express their opinions freely on various platforms created by network service providers. Most people will ask platforms to delete posts to protect their rights if they fall victim to slanders on the Internet. So, if platforms ignore their request fail to delete the posts, do they need to bear the corresponding responsibility?

Recently, Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People¡¯s Court (hereinafter referred to as the ¡°Court¡±) concluded a dispute over reputation right. The second instance found that the platform Zhihu did not take necessary measures to deal with infringing content in a timely manner and thus should be held jointly and severally liable for the additional harm with the poster. Therefore, the Court rejected Zhihu¡¯s appeal and upheld the original judgment.

[Case Review]

Mr. Ding was very annoyed, because he found someone made personal attacks against him on the Internet. On April 20, 2019, an anonymous user posted a topic about Mr. Ding on Zhihu, and a user answered under the topic with abusive and slanderous remarks. In May, another anonymous user added a new answer, using insulting words.

Mr. Ding was very angry. He believed these false answers had seriously infringed his right of reputation. So, on June 12th of the same year, he sent a lawyer's letter to Zhi Zhe Tian Xia, ​​the operator of Zhihu, requesting the deletion of the three infringing answers immediately upon receiving the lawyer's letter. The letter included the name and contact number of Mr. Ding¡¯s lawyer, as well as the links of the three answers and the excerpts of the remarks.

However, Zhihu didn¡¯t delete the relevant content. More and more infringing remarks emerged. On June 18, a user posted a new topic of ¡°How to Judge Mr. Ding,¡± and defamatory comments followed suit. The two topics went viral. As of July 1, their clicks had reached more than 100,000.

On July 2, Mr. Ding once again entrusted a lawyer to send a lawyer's letter by email, urging Zhi Zhe Tian Xia to delete the two infringing topics and all the contents under the topics immediately. 

Three days later, Zhi Zhe Tian Xia deleted one of the topics and the content under it, but only one user's answer under the other topic was deleted.

Mr. Ding could not take it anymore, and filed a lawsuit to the court, requesting Zhi Zhe Tian Xia immediately stop the infringement, delete all content under the infringing topic on Zhihu, publish a one-month statement to apologize and eliminate the effects, and pay RMB 60,000 for property loss and mental damages.

After receiving the litigation materials, Zhi Zhe Tian Xia deleted the remaining infringing topic and the content under it on July 29, 2019.

[Case Study]

Through trial, the first-instance court held that citizens enjoy the right to reputation in accordance with law, and that no one may damage the reputation of other citizens by abuse, slander and other means. Fully aware that the posts involved are highly likely to damage Mr. Ding's reputation rights, Zhi Zhe Tian Xia did not take necessary measures in time and thus should be held jointly and severally liable for the additional harm with the publisher. Hence the Court ruled that Zhi Zhe Tian Xia publish a statement on Zhihu for seven consecutive days to make apologies to Mr. Ding, compensate him RMB 1000, and dismissed Mr. Ding¡¯s other claims.

Unsatisfied with the ruling, Zhi Zhe Tian Xia brought an appeal to the Court.

Zhi Zhe Tian Xia believed that it dealt with the content involved in a timely manner and fulfilled its obligation to take necessary measures which should and can be taken by it as a network service provider and thus should not be held liable.

Through trial, the Court holds that according to Article 5 of the Provisions of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Trial of Civil Dispute Cases of Infringing Personal Rights and Interests Through the Use of Information Networks, the victim may send a notice to the network service provider in writing or other way published by the network service provider. The lawyer's letter sent by Mr. Ding included the name and contact information of the informant, the website address where he requested to take necessary actions, and the reason for the deletion of relevant information, etc., constituting a valid notice. As a professional network service provider, Zhi Zhe Tian Xia should have the corresponding information management capability and the technical possibility of taking preventive measures against infringement. Mr. Ding furnished preliminary evidence for proving the infringement, the content of which is sufficient for Zhi Zhe Tian Xia to determine whether Internet users had used the Internet services to commit the infringement. In the event the network service provider fails to take necessary measures in time after receiving the notice, it shall be jointly and severally liable with the network user for the additional harm. Zhi Zhe Tian Xia didn¡¯t deal with the matter until more than 20 days from receiving the lawyer¡¯s letter. This went beyond the limit of timely dealing with the matter and caused the further spreading of the content. Therefore, it should bear the corresponding liability for the additional harm.

To sum up, the Court held that Zhi Zhe Tian Xia's appeal claims could not be established, and thus rejected the appeal and upheld the original judgment.

Network service companies as information platform service providers should provide unimpeded and effective channels for infringement complaints based on ever-improving information management and governance capabilities, and at the same time fulfill their obligations of timely reviewing and handling complaints. When receiving valid complaints, they should promptly block or delete the infringing expressions; when receiving invalid complaints, they should actively explain the reasons for invalidity or inform the complainers the review results.

Network users should also be responsible for their own words and deeds. The Internet is a virtual world, but not a land beyond the law. Citizens must also comply with relevant laws and regulations when expressing their opinions. Only when platforms and users jointly maintain a healthy and orderly network environment can a secure and civilized network environment be established.

[Relevant Laws]

1. Tort Liability Law of the People's Republic of China
Article 36 ...
Where a network user commits a tort through the network services, the victim of the tort shall be entitled to notify the network service provider to take such necessary measures as deletion, block or disconnection. In the event the network service provider fails to take necessary measures in time after receiving the notice, it shall be jointly and severally liable with the network user for the additional harm.
...
¡¡¡¡

(Written by Li Danyang, Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People¡¯s Court)

 

>> Chinese Version
The English version of this article, which is translated from the Chinese version by CTPC, is for reference only and shall be subject to the corresponding contents on the Chinese webpage.
Copyright @2014 Shanghai High People's Court, All Rights Reserved.