Chinese wife films husband's affair, shares online; mistress sues for clip removal and payout

In a bizarre case, an affair partner in China sued the wife of her lover, who filmed their intimate acts and shared it online, asking the woman to delete the clips and seeking compensation over it.

According to a report by South China Morning Post, the case was put forth the Teng County Court in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, southwestern China.

The court has ordered the wife to remove the clips, which were filmed using surveillance cameras installed in the house, but denied compensation to the mistress. The mistress had appealed the verdict, but it was upheld by the upper-level Wuzhou Municipal Intermediate People’s Court.

In August 2023, the mistress, named Wang, found the cameras in the house of her affair partner and the videos being being uploaded online by the wife, Li.

In the following months, Li shared Wang’s intimate pictures and videos many times on social media.

Wang then informed the police, demanding that Li and her siblings remove the videos, and that they publicly apologise to her and pay her compensation for infringing her rights to privacy, reputation and her image, as well as to cover her spiritual loss and legal fees.

Li argued that it was reasonable for her to install cameras in the house rented by her husband and that she shared the videos online to stop her husband’s infidelity. Li’s sister and brother claimed they did not infringe Wang’s rights, so she should not seek compensation from them.

The court ruled that Li and her siblings infringed upon Wang's rights, but Wang was wrong in the first place by having an affair with the married Hu.

Although Li sought to safeguard her own interests, her actions crossed a legal boundary, so she should remove everything she released online about Wang, the court said.

The court continued that what Wang did was against public order, good customs, and ran against socialist values.

Thus, it ordered the removal and deletion of the video, but no compensation was ordered.