Yes, you read that headline right.

Huawei is turning the meter up to 11 in it’s never ending battle with critics. How? Well, by filing three defamation suits against individuals in France of course. Wait, what? According to Bloomberg and French investigative site La Lettre A, a researcher, a broadcast journalist and a wireless network expert made comments on different television programs about how the tech company is tied with the Chinese government, and they’re now going to court for it.

YUP.

I mean, we’re used to seeing Huawei take entire governments to court, as illustrated by the company’s ongoing lawsuit against the US government for banning it’s 5G infrastructure, but suing outspoken critics of the company is something I’m pretty sure they’ve never done. This new tactic might cost them quite a fair bit in legal fees but hey, I suppose budget is not an option when your bank is quite literally NOT the Chinese government. *Proceeds to delete every piece on Huawei I’ve ever written*

The company says that it’s only suing because these claims that ‘it’s controlled by the Chinese government’ are examples of people using their expertise to commit acts of espionage, which really makes no freaking sense if you think about it. Since when was it “an act of espionage” for an expert… to give his/her opinion as an expert??

Huawei didn’t actually sue the actual broadcast networks that these comments were aired on, because come on guys, freedom of press is something Huawei values very much, obviously. Funnily enough, one of the experts who was sued came out and made an excellent point, saying “I am surprised that Huawei decided to file a lawsuit against an expert who spoke in broadcast television programs, in her capacity as an expert on China.”

Could this set the precedent for what’s to come from pretty much any company that doesn’t like what’s being said about them?