Fast-food chain KFC, part of the Yum group (NYSE:YUM), is suing three social media companies in China, where it has 4,600 restaurants as the largest company of its kind, and where it has fallen victim to an unscrupulous campaign by competitors.
AP reports that KFC has filed a complaint against three Chinese companies, spreading anti-KFC rumors through their social networks; one suggested that the company’s chickens had been genetically modified to have eight legs and six wings.
The case comes just as Beijing has tried to crack down the internet rumors. The social media companies have been convicted of influencing consumer sentiment on behalf of clients by spreading damaging rumors and false information about competitors using the popular mobile phone app WeChat.
KFC is asking for an immediate stop to the breaches, an apology from each of the social media companies implicated in the campaign and 1.5 million yuan (US$242,000) in damages.
“The stepped-up efforts by the government in recent years to purify the online environment, as well as some judicial interpretations, have offered us confidence and weapons,'' said KFC's China CEO Qu Cuirong in a statement.
The implicated companies were identified as Shanxi Weilukuang Technology Company Ltd., Taiyuan Zero Point Technology Company and Yingchenanzhi Success and Culture Communication Ltd. in Shenzhen city.