If you follow China’s new energy vehicles, you’ve likely come across the Telescope YouTube channel. Today, the channel’s founder and host, Sean, posted a message on Weibo apologising to BYD. The apology comes after Sean admitted to making false claims about the automaker.
In a post on his Weibo account “周浩然Sean” dated May 19, 2024, Sean stated that his previous claim alleging that BYD manipulated self-media accounts to defame rival company Nio was entirely fabricated. He acknowledged that these statements infringed upon BYD’s right to reputation.
“I hereby publicly clarify and sincerely apologise to BYD Company,” the apology read.
The incident appears to be linked to a previous legal dispute involving Nio. In June 2022, a video titled “BYD and Nio, who is ripping off customers?” was published by the account “车事纪” (Che Shiji). The video claimed that the Nio ES8, priced between 470,000 and 630,000 yuan (65,000 and 88,000 USD) in China (with battery purchase), was sold for significantly less, between 410,000 and 460,000 yuan (56,800 and 63,700 USD), in Norway.
Nio argued that the video made an inappropriate comparison by contrasting the price of the vehicle with a purchased battery in China against the price using Nio’s Battery as a Service (BaaS) model in Norway. Nio also highlighted that the video deliberately ignored that Norway exempts electric vehicles from import duties and value-added tax. Nio contended that this comparison misled the public into believing Nio treated domestic and international consumers differently and was “ripping off” customers in China while selling cheaply in Norway.
Nio subsequently sued the account operator, Shanghai Yunti Information Technology Co., Ltd., for spreading online rumours and infringing on its reputation, demanding a public apology and 2 million yuan (277,600 USD) compensation. The court ultimately ruled in favour of Nio, ordering Shanghai Yunti Information Technology Co., Ltd. to issue a public apology on its Douyin(TikTok in China) account “Che Shiji” for 30 consecutive days and pay Nio 300,000 yuan (41,600 USD) in economic damages.
Sean, a former public relations employee for Nio, had previously posted on Weibo about the Nio vs. Che Shiji lawsuit. He alleged that a specific brand (which he claimed was BYD) was behind the topic, buying traffic and providing materials to Che Shiji. He urged this brand to “be decent” and privately help Che Shiji pay the court-ordered compensation. Sean questioned the ethics of allegedly using someone as a “gun” to gain significant likes (over 400,000 for the video) and then leaving them to pay the damages after being sued, suggesting it would deter others from being used in the future.
In a Weibo post, since deleted, that he published before his apology, Sean claimed to possess evidence that BYD had commissioned Che Shiji to defame Nio. He stated that he knew the names of everyone involved, from the client who placed the order to the salesperson who accepted it. However, he added that revealing the evidence would result in these individuals losing their jobs. Consequently, he chose not to disclose the evidence and instead apologised.
