Blogger Jailed Over Bad Beef Noodle Review
We've heard of restaurateurs having hissy fits over bad Yelp reviews and even kicking out newspaper reviewers, but jailing a blogger over a bad review? That would be insane... or would it? A Taiwanese blogger was recently sentenced to 30 days in detention, two years of probation and ordered to pay NT$200,000 in compensation to a Taichung noodle shop that she criticized on her blog. What did she say that was so awful?
According to the Taipei Times, the blogger, surnamed Liu (劉), called the owner of a local beef noodle restaurant a "bully" because he allowed his customers to park in a way that caused traffic jams, said restaurant was unsanitary and had cockroaches, and said the food was too salty. The restaurant's owner filed charges against her for defamation.
The Taipei Times reports:
The High Court found that Liu's criticism about cockroaches in the restaurant to be a narration of facts, not intentional slander. However, the judge also ruled that Liu should not have criticized all the restaurant's food as too salty because she only had one dish on her single visit.
...
The ruling is final.
Thank god we don't live in Taiwan. By these standards, our running critique of mediocre "gastropubs" would have long ago landed us in solitary confinement at San Quentin.
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