A food blogger in Taiwan has been sentenced to jail for 30 days and ordered to pay around $7,000 in damages after a judge ruled that her comments about the saltiness of a restaurant’s food were made without doing due diligence.

From the Taipei Times:

After visiting a Taichung beef noodle restaurant in July 2008, where she had dried noodles and side dishes, [the blogger] wrote that the restaurant served food that was too salty, the place was unsanitary because there were cockroaches and that the owner was a “bully” because he let customers park their cars haphazardly, leading to traffic jams.

The restaurant’s owner heard about the write-up and accused her of defamation. And while the court had no problem with the blogger’s comments about the cockroach, it ruled that she unjustly criticized the entire menu as “salty” when she had only had one dish on one visit.

Additionally, after health inspectors looked at the restaurant and disagreed with the blogger’s description of its lack of sanitation, the court ordered to pay the penalty of NT$200,000 (around $6,900).

The blogger has since apologized to the restaurant for her review.

Blogger jailed over critical restaurant review [Taipeitimes.com]

Thanks to David for the tip!

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