‘Supporting Taiwan independence’ ruled slanderous in China as actress Ruby Lin sues Weibo accuser

Social media user ordered to apologise and pay compensation to the Taiwanese actress for accusing her of backing independence, her legal representatives say

Lin was targeted by similar comments last year after her TV show was funded by the Taiwanese ministry of culture

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Ruby Lin, who made her name starring in My Fair Princess (left), was targeted by hundreds of slanderous posts, her lawyers said. Photo: Handout

Published: 6:14pm, 6 Dec 2019Updated: 10:24pm, 6 Dec 2019

A Beijing court has ruled that a social media user should apologise to Taiwanese actress Ruby Lin for calling her a Taiwan independence supporter, and pay her 60,000 yuan (US$8,500) in compensation.

“The Weibo account was registered and used by an individual surnamed Huang, and the posts contained content that were largely abusive and anger-venting in nature, as well as descriptions that were not fact-based, such as ‘Taiwan independence’, which constitute insult and slander to the plaintiff,” the Beijing-based Xingquan Law Firm, which sued on behalf of Lin, quoted Beijing Haidian District Court as saying on Wednesday.

From August 2016 to October 2017, the account on Weibo, China’s equivalent of Twitter, featured hundreds of posts that slandered 43-year-old Lin, the law firm’s statement said.

During the trial, Huang said that the posts were responses to other fans and not directed at Lin. However, the court decided that most of the content amounted to insult and slander against Lin and exceeded the range of rightful criticism of a public figure, the statement said.

Huang’s account was no longer visible, and was shown as having been shut down “due to complaints that it violated Weibo regulations”. The precise content of the posts is not known.

Last year, Lin’s television programme My Dear Boy, which she produced as well as starred in, was cancelled in mainland China after two episodes. Mainlanders expressed unhappiness over Lin and the programme receiving funding from Taiwan’s ministry of culture, and accused her of supporting independence for the self-ruled island. Lin’s studio had issued a statement on Weibo declaring that such comments were based on rumours and were slanderous.