Blogger Jailed Over Negative Review And Defamation Of Restaurant

A Taiwanese blogger with surname “Liu” was ordered by court to spend up to 30 days in jail and to pay restitution up to NT $200,000 ($7692 USD) over her critical restaurant review she had written on her blog.

Liu’s blog which has over 60,000 hits, was accused by the restaurant owner (Yang) of defamation after finding out that his restaurant was being unfairly criticized by Liu.

Liu who was dissatisfied over the foods and the environment of the Taichung beef noodle restaurant had wrote that the food served by the restaurant was too salty, judged the place as unsanitary because there were cockroaches, and challenged the owner was a “bully” as he allowed customers to park their cars haphazardly, leading to traffic jams.

The court ruled Liu’s criticism of the restaurant exceeded reasonable bounds and sentenced her to 30 days in detention. Liu appealed.

The court however, ultimately ruled Liu must pay restitution to the owner for revenues lost after health officials inspected the restaurant did not find conditions to be as unsanitary as Liu had described.

Source: Taipei Times via Micgadget