The crime of libel refers to deliberately fabricating and spreading fictional facts, which is enough to degrade the personality and damage the reputation of others, and the circumstances are serious, which constitutes this crime.
According to Article 291 of the Criminal Law of People's Republic of China (PRC), whoever fabricates a false danger, disaster or warning and publishes it on the information network or other media, or knowingly spreads it on the information network or other social platforms, thus seriously disrupting social order, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention or public surveillance. If the circumstances are especially serious and cause serious consequences, they shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than seven years.
As far as the Tesla incident mentioned here is concerned, it is still a bit inappropriate to maliciously spread false statements, because in the criminal law, the punishment for maliciously spreading false statements is mainly Article 29 1, which is the crime of intentionally spreading false information, and this crime is aimed at events, such as fictional disasters or dangerous situations, and does not apply to the Tesla incident.
As far as the Tesla incident is concerned, it is very similar to the provisions of libel. Although the subject in the crime of libel refers to others, in this case, the individual infringed by Mr. Chen is the company. As for Article 246 of the Criminal Law, whoever deliberately fabricates facts to belittle or slander others shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention, public surveillance or deprivation of political rights.
As for Mr. Chen's previous accusation of Tesla's brake failure, it has constituted false litigation's crime here. This crime is defined as: false litigation crime, which refers to the act that a natural person or unit files a civil lawsuit with fabricated facts, which hinders the judicial order or seriously infringes upon the legitimate rights and interests of others.
According to Article 307 of the Criminal Law of People's Republic of China (PRC), a person who brings a civil lawsuit for the crime of false litigation with fabricated facts, impairs the judicial order or seriously infringes upon the legitimate rights and interests of others, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention or public surveillance and shall also, or shall only, be fined. If the circumstances are serious, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than seven years and shall also be fined.
So if Tesla investigates Mr. Chen's civil and criminal responsibilities, Mr. Chen will have to go to jail. Even if Tesla doesn't hold Mr. Chen accountable, then Mr. Chen will admit that Tesla's brakes are out of order and accelerate automatically. This matter can't be solved by an apology.
Most importantly, Mr. Chen went to court to sue for this matter, so now that he admits to fabricating the facts, the crime of false litigation in front of him will be settled!
Laws and regulations involving malicious dissemination of false statements
1. Crime of fabricating and intentionally spreading false information
Constituting this crime is a very serious situation, which directly violates the criminal law. For example, Zhang San posted on the online social platform, and an earthquake occurred in a certain place, causing many deaths and injuries and spreading wildly, which eventually caused extremely bad social consequences. Then Zhang San constituted the crime of fabricating and deliberately spreading false information. Therefore, the object of this crime refers to the social collective.
Second, the crime of insult and slander.
The crime of insult and libel belongs to the category of criminal private prosecution, that is to say, the infringer will not be investigated if the infringer does not file a lawsuit. For example, Zhang San spread and fabricated some things about Li Si in public or on social platforms, which damaged Li Si's reputation, so Zhang San constituted the crime of insult and slander.
Third, spread rumors.
For the crime of spreading rumors, the Public Security Administration Punishment Law is applicable. Whoever violates this crime shall be detained for not less than five days but not more than ten days, and may also be fined not more than five hundred yuan. If the circumstances are minor, they shall be detained for not more than five days or fined not more than five hundred yuan.
In fact, everyone is familiar with the crime of spreading rumors. For example, a supermarket suddenly snapped up salt. Ask carefully, it was an old man and an old lady who made a rumor that salt couldn't be shipped in, so they should hurry to buy it. This is a typical rumor.
For example, some time ago, someone spread rumors that the meat sold in a supermarket had bugs, so don't buy it, which caused the unsalable pork in the supermarket. This is a typical rumor.
Malicious dissemination of false statements constitutes the crime of fabricating and deliberately spreading false information. If it is to spread disasters or warnings, if it is to spread false information to belittle others, it constitutes the crime of insult and slander. If it is to spread false information to disturb social order, it constitutes the crime of spreading rumors. Article 25 of the Public Security Administration Punishment Law shall apply.