E-COMMERCE giant Alibaba Group has accused a Shenzhen company of spreading rumors on social media in order to damage its business reputation, Shenzhen Evening News reported yesterday.

    Shenzhen Dimeng Internet Technology Co. published a series of articles on their WeChat account saying that Taobao, an e-commerce platform under Alibaba, sells fake and low-quality products, and that Taobao and Alibaba have altogether evaded 5 trillion yuan (US$800 billion) in taxes, among other accusations.

    Founded in 2007, Dimeng claims to be the largest online business-to-business (B2B) trading platform in southern China, while Alibaba is the biggest online B2B marketplace in China.

    On Feb. 5, Xiang Dongshun, who manages Dimeng’s WeChat account, was taken in for questioning by three policemen, two of whom are from the economic crime investigation department of Hangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau (Alibaba Group is headquartered in Hangzhou).

    The policemen told Xiang that Alibaba is a listed, famous company and that Dimeng is not supposed to criticize them for selling fake and low-quality products, according to Dimeng. Xiang was asked to sign a written promise that his company would not criticize Taobao and Alibaba anymore, but Xiang rejected the request, insisting that criticizing Alibaba is not a crime.

    Dimeng questioned the Hangzhou policemen’s handling of the dispute. The two Hangzhou policemen refused to reveal their identities or show any valid warrant during the three-hour questioning, said Xiang Juan, president of Dimeng.

    At around 9 p.m. Feb. 5, Xiang Dongshun left the office.

    Gu Jianbin, chief public relations officer of Alibaba Group, confirmed that his company had reported to police that Alibaba and some top company officials had been defamed by Dimeng with unfounded accusations. But the group denied sending their staff to accompany Hangzhou policemen to question Dimeng’s staff members.

    Hangzhou police have not made any response.  (Luo Songsong)