Court orders woman to pay $25,000 in damages for Facebook defamation of company's bean sprouts and kale

A housewife has been ordered to pay $25,000 in damages for defaming produce company D'Season by calling its kale and bean sprouts "poisonous" in a Facebook post.

CNA reported that Sophia Wu Chao Wen, who is originally from Taiwan but lives in Singapore, made the post on Mar 13, 2022.

It was a screenshot of a Chinese article with a photo of packaged bean sprouts and kale. The article, which responded to a question on whether bean sprouts were still edible after they were blackened, cautioned people against eating them.

Wu wrote in the caption: "It's shocking, seriously, that someone would even dare to sell such ugly vegetables! Those who already paid are really unlucky! What 'organic veggies from Taiwan'?! This is basically poisonous vegetables!

"Is it because they lack knowledge? Or are they just turning a blind eye for money and asking everyone to pick out the good ones? A pack with this much bad stuff is toxic, and they still want customers to pick through it - that's just disregarding human life!!"

She added that the vegetables given to animals were better than the ones sold by the company.

Wu replied to comments, hinting at company

At the time, Wu had 410 Facebook friends and the post, which did not name D'Season, garnered 43 reactions.

But when asked where the vegetables were from, Wu replied: "The unforgettable lychee side."

In June 2021, D'Season had sold lychees that were overripe, and subsequently asked customers to pick out the inedible fruits and offered them refunds.

According to its website, D'Season aims to "source from reputable farms" and specialises in importing and selling Taiwanese produce.

Following Wu's post, the company sent her a letter of demand in April 2022, asking her to take down the post and publish an apology.

Wu deleted the post a few days later, but did not provide an apology.

Sued for defamation

The company sought at least $110,000 from Wu, for claiming it sold spoiled vegetables and was dishonest in selling organic produce.

Denying that the post was defamatory, Wu said that she did not explicitly accuse the company.

She added that she believed the article warning against eating blackened sprouts as she knew a friend who had a near-death experience from doing so. However, she failed to identify this friend.

Although Wu was also accused of being linked to a competitor company, there was not enough evidence to prove that she had received benefits in exchange for the post.

The judge found Wu's post defamatory, ordering her to pay D'Season $15,000 in general damages and $10,000 in special damages.