Chinese commercial property conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group announced on Wednesday that it filed lawsuits on Tuesday against responsible rumormongers, which have recently fabricated stories and spread false information regarding its chairman Wang Jianlin.
The lawsuits have been accepted by Chinese courts and the company will also press criminal charges against those whose behavior has constituted the crime of defamation, the company said.
Besides these actions, Wanda is also considering filing a lawsuit against US-based Chinese website boxun.com and will request $2 million in compensation along with a public apology, it noted.
The domestic rumormongers that Wanda has sued include official WeChat accounts such as Financial Bread, Dimeng Smart Transportation as well as an array of Sina Weibo accounts such as Asia News Weekly, Shangqizhuang and Lebrun.
Each of the accounts should issue a public apology and provide Wanda with 5 million yuan ($765,000) in compensation, the company requested.
Wanda also said it is investigating and collecting evidence against other Chinese WeChat and Weibo accounts that have allegedly defamed its chairman.
The company denied the rumor its chairman Wang had been detained by police in a statement on August 28, saying certain sources had intentionally spread malicious rumors about Wang.
Such rumors began to appear in mid-August, which proved to be untrue after Wang led a field trip to Lanzhou, Northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, said the statement.
The denial came after some WeChat accounts said on August 27 that Wang was being detained in North China's Tianjin before he and his family were set to leave for the UK via a private jet.
He was released after several hours of talks, but was banned from traveling abroad, the WeChat accounts claimed.
