Meituan to sue four influencers for pretending to be drivers

Meituan, the food delivery platform, is preparing to file lawsuits against four influencers, who pretended to be delivery riders and spread online rumors, thus misleading the public and smearing the images of Meituan's delivery riders. As to protect the rights and interests of delivery riders, demanding an apology to the affected delivery riders and compensation for any damages caused, reported Shenzhen Special Zone Daily on Thursday.

In early November, some photos and video about female delivery riders wearing exposing cloths and posing gestures full of sexual innuendoes began circulating on social media platform such as Sina Weibo, a micro blogging site, and Kuaishou, a video-sharing platform.

This information gained attention from various media outlets and became viral on multiple platforms, which fueled several thousands of pieces of sex-related rumors.

On Nov 3, a topic saying "a takeout beef soup worth 1,400 yuan ($200) was actually providing illegal services" began trending on Sina Weibo, which later on the next day was proved to be a fabricated information after an investigation launched by police in Hainan province.

What's more, among the four sued influencers, one was nicknamed "Bao Er Qi Qi Ge", who gained public attention in August by staging a video of "a female delivery rider crying late at night after her bicycle was stolen". However, the investigation by the police in Huaihua, Hunan province, revealed the topic and the video was fabricated and thus administratively detained her for fabrication and dissemination of false information.

As of now, two of the four sued influencers were Weibo users, whose accounts have already been suspended due to violation of platform regulations. And the other two's accounts on short video platforms cannot be searched.