Taiwanese Legislator Loses Defamation Lawsuit Against Paparazzi

Taiwanese legislator Wang Ding-yu has lost a civil lawsuit seeking NT$1.8 million in damages from paparazzi Ge Siqi over alleged defamation. Ge had previously posted screenshots of LINE conversations on Facebook, claiming they showed an inappropriate relationship between Wang and a married woman identified as Ms. Guo.

Wang had sued Ge, asserting that the shared messages were fabricated and had severely damaged his reputation. He initiated criminal proceedings for defamation, which were later dropped by prosecutors. The investigation concluded that Ms. Guo had created the fake chat logs using a Chinese app, and Ge had mistakenly believed them to be authentic before sharing them online.

In the civil trial, Ge defended himself, presenting printed chat logs and insisting on their authenticity. He argued that both Wang and Ms. Guo were lying and that even the prosecutor had been deceived. Ge requested to cross-examine Ms. Guo and two other individuals, but the judge deemed the existing evidence sufficient and denied the request.

The court ultimately ruled in favor of Ge, dismissing Wang's lawsuit. The judge found that Ge did not act with malicious intent, as he appeared to genuinely believe the information provided by Ms. Guo. Consequently, Ge is not required to pay any compensation.