Authorities Are Investigating Mass Defamation of Alibaba
Xu Wei
DATE:  Dec 27 2017
/ SOURCE:  Yicai
Authorities Are Investigating Mass Defamation of Alibaba Authorities Are Investigating Mass Defamation of Alibaba

(Yicai Global) Dec. 27 -- The government and judicial departments are investigating a series of organized, planned and large-scale rumors about Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. [NYSE:BABA], as well as cases of public opinion manipulation and other illegal acts, China News Service quoted the Chinese internet giant as saying on Dec. 25.

Alibaba was the victim of a coordinated attack in which nearly 500 social media accounts and media outlets released about 10,000 articles, said Hui Xiang, Alibaba's legal adviser from Shanghai Yingdong Law.

Chen Zhanfeng, the controller of public relations firms such as Beijing Wolai, allegedly received funds and introduced Project 701 in July last year. That scheme supposedly commissioned writers to churn out rumors about Alibaba and register accounts en masse with purchased personal information to spread them.

Alibaba's e-commerce platform Tmall and one operated by JD.com Inc. [NASDAQ: JD] have been caught in a public opinion battle following reports released during the Singles' Day shopping festival, which takes place annually on Nov. 11.

Project 701 targeted Alibaba and its founder Jack Ma, and gave workers orders to "change references in negative posts from JD.Com to Tmall and diffuse these rumors," Alibaba's counsel said.

JD.Com has denied working with third parties to create rumors about other groups.

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Keywords:   Alibaba,Internet-Based Rumor,E-COMMERCE