Brandjack News

By Quentin Langley

Wikipedia is the oldest of the main social media platforms, predating Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. It seems the old claim that anyone can edit a Wikipedia page is no longer, quite, true.

The French company, Hi-Media, was fined Eu25,000 (USD36,000) for editing the name of competitor, Rentabiliweb from a list of companies providing micro-payment services. It wasn't possible to prove exactly who made the edit, but the IP address reveals that it was a computer at Hi-Media's Paris offices.

This edit was, of course, a breach of Wikipedia's practices, but it was also ruled by the court to be an example of unfair business practice. It seems there has been a great deal of bad feeling between the competitors. Though Rentabiliweb won this case, it lost two others, and ended up the net loser, owing Hi-Meida Eu75,000.

It seems that this form of brandjacking is now illegal, at least in France.