Protect Your Brand: How to Guard Against Online Defamation

Online defamation, often amplified by “black PR” or “dark PR” tactics, is a deliberate and unethical strategy aimed at damaging the reputation of a person, brand or company, by spreading false, misleading, or negative information about them. The goal is to discredit the target, undermine their public image, and gain financially or secure a competitive advantage.

The rise of social media has amplified the harm caused by online defamation, as the initiators often use bots, “internet troll armies”, fake accounts, and paid influencers to flood social media platforms with fabricated, harmful content against brands.

Companies and brands suffer from this type of assault on multiple fronts: Credibility among the public is undermined, directly affecting the sales of products or services, as well as how it is valued in the capital market; Frequent negative publicity can create anxiety among employees and lead them to question the management’s ability to handle crises. If negative information is not addressed in a timely manner, the company may in turn face scrutiny or investigation from regulatory authorities. Even if the company successfully clarifies the facts, it will still need to invest considerable resources in restoring its reputation, managing public relations, engaging with the media, and pursuing legal action.

Case study

In April 2025, a Shanghai-based company operating a coffee brand with over 1,800 stores nationwide, filed a report with the local police, alleging that it had been the target of a black PR campaign and blackmailed for two years.

A social media influencer had been spreading false information about the coffee brand, accusing it of exaggerating its number of franchise stores and alleging a high closure rate among its branches, etc. When the company’s PR staff reached out to the influencer, they were asked to pay RMB 500,000 in exchange for the posts to be deleted. The influencer even threatened to publish more negative content if the company did not pay. The company paid the “ransom” to avoid further trouble, but the problem did not go away.

The police found out that the influencer knowingly published unverified negative information about the brand, and blackmailed it in the name of “business cooperation”. In June 2025, the influencer was arrested for extortion.

Basis for bringing legal actions in China

The Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate published a judicial interpretation on the application of laws in handling defamation and other crimes committed via information networks:

• Damage to business reputation in Article 221 of Criminal Law;

• Defamation in Article 246 of Criminal Law;

• Extortion in Article 274 of Criminal Law;

• Picking quarrels and provoking trouble in Article 293 of Criminal Law;

• Illegal business operation in Article 225 of Criminal Law;

• Damage to competitor’s reputation in Article 14 of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law.

Investigating and Combating Online Defamation

Investigation efforts play a critical and multi-layered role in combating online defamation, aiming to identify, trace, neutralize, and prevent such attacks.

• Initial Assessment of Threat: Monitor suspicious activity such as unusual/fake reviews and media reports, detect sudden spikes in negative sentiment, and classify the nature of the attack;

  
  

• Open-Source Information Gathering: Gather publicly available data to trace the origin, pattern, and possible motives behind the campaign;

  
  

• Digital Forensics: Trace and analyze technical footprints and digital evidence to uncover the source and coordination of the campaign;

  
  

• Legal Evidence Collection: Gather admissible evidence to support legal proceedings and/or regulatory actions;

  
  

• Human Intelligence: Obtain insider insights and confidential information that may not be accessible through digital channels;

  
  

• Response Planning: Assess the damage inflicted by the black PR campaign, use the collected legal evidence to pressure the perpetrators to remove content, and bring legal actions.

Online defamation is a calculated strategy to discredit and harm a target, but companies are not helpless. Timely, strategic, and effective responses are essential to protecting a company’s reputation, minimizing financial losses, and ensuring long-term resilience.

Grapevine Asia Partners is a boutique risk consultancy established by a team of skilled corporate-intelligence research analysts and anti-fraud experts, who collectively have decades of experience in Asia, particularly in Greater China and Southeast Asia. Our firm actively monitors policy changes and regulatory investigations involving multinational companies. Aside from collecting, interpreting, and analyzing up-to-date information from credible sources, Grapevine Asia also supports clients in liaising with law enforcement and regulatory agencies to facilitate case resolution. We have extensive experience in dealing with law enforcement, particularly on matters involving embezzlement, private sector bribery, non-compete violation and trade secrets theft, and intellectual property infringement.