https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/27/africa/nigerian-woman-faces-jail-over-online-review-of-tomato-puree-intl-scli/index.html
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Did a quick search to see if nutrition and ingredients were listed - they weren't. Saw a lot of "our products are super nutritious trust me bro" in their ads.
Actually makes me thankful of all the regulations our food suppliers have to follow in the US.
Actually makes me thankful of all the regulations our food suppliers have to follow in the US.
As a European: lol
Yeah - was about to do that
I think EU regulations for food and border-free movement between countries are the two most valuable EU advantages by far
I'm not sure what you're loling about, only major difference between EU and USA nutrition labels are the percentage amount listings.
IIRC - USA is a lot more arbitrary and less interested in the customer safety (and open for bribery, sorry I mean lobbying) and USA also has a good amount of stuff for sale that's not allowed in EU.
There's quite a few articles and videos on the subject, but it's been a long time since I read or watched any.
Is the EU better than the US in this respect? You bet.
Can the US do better? Sure.
But the US is definitely far better with food nutrition labels than many countries with unenforced laws.
They both require ingredient lists, though. This specific case could easily happen to either the EU or USA.
I'm laughing because the EU has far stricter food regulations than the US. The way Americans think about news like this is kinda similar to how we see the US from our perspective here.
You said you view the USA's regulatory standards as the USA views Nigeria's but the USA enforces a full ingredient list so that's kind of nonsensical. If a can of tomatoes went from the USA to EU there would likely be no issue. Even the more chemical sounding names like "Calcium Chloride" salt are commonplace in the EU, in fact I think it was developed there.
I think regulations are better in the EU but you chose a really shit example to use.
But it wasn't just about ingredient lists but food standards and I literally did not use ANY example at all. Please stop the straw manning.
Actually makes me thankful of all the regulations our food suppliers have to follow in the US.
For now
That’s the 40 year reputation he’s worked so hard to build: oversweet tomato purée with no nutrition facts published.
This is such horseshit.
Don’t know if others reas the article but they made her stand in a cell with water on the floor, for at least twelve hours.
That’s like Abu Ghraib level indignity and prisoner abuse. Over some lost tomato purée contracts.
This should be a civil matter, but it’s being treated as a criminal matter.
Fuck this guy, and fuck the corrupt government he’s using to torment this lady.
I think they're really going to lose a lot of business over this lawsuit. If they had just left that lady alone hardly anyone would have seen her review lol
I mean there's a reason there's warning labels on everything about not doing the most obvious thing you should never do.
Not everyone reads the same stuff we do.
Which sucks. But that's why.
I think it will eventually happen. But centuries away.
Only if you can get through the years of litigation, harassment, stress, and have the money to weather it out. Truth and justice are more easily attainable for those who can afford it.
No, not criminal prosecutions for what should be a minor issue, but definitely civil suits. SLAPP suits have been a problem, where the plaintiff doesn't necessarily expect to win. They just want to punish people by making their lives miserable through drawn out litigation. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UN8bJb8biZU
Compared to other countries our risk is pretty low. Does the risk of a SLAPP keep you from reviewing a restaurant? In Portugal people that have been scammed out of money on non-existent rentals are scared to me names because of the very real risk of criminal prosecution.
In Portugal, as far as I know uniquelly in the Western World, Libel is a Criminal matter.
It's mainly used by politicians (who have the influence to get the local version of the Public Prosecution Office to prosecute it) to go after people who accuse them of something as means to shut up less powerful people up.
(Personally I think the reason it's Criminal rather than Civil is exactly so that the powerful or well-connected can use Justice as a tool against others for free rather than the American system were it's the Moneyed that get to use Justice as a tool against others)
Unsurprisingly there is lots of corruption over here. Also Justice is so slow that it de facto doesn't work for most of the time, though in this kind of situation they make sure it goes all the way.
(I actually know somebody who was convicted of Libel for accusing a politician of Corruption ... and more than a decade later that guy was in jail for Corruption - first one ever in Portugal - and I can tell you lots of people inside the Public Prosecution Office from his party tried to discretelly shelve the process until the deadlines expired and had to be threatenned with being exposed in the Pressed)
It's part of the reason why this country is such a disgrace (and I say this as somebody who lived and worked in a couple of countries in Europe so have lots of references to compare it against).
Lots of local police departments in USA too frequently arrest people for bullshit charges when called out
And in today's episode of Totally Un-self-aware,
The company’s founder, Eric Umeofia, refused to budge, however, saying in a recent documentary on the local Arise Television channel that he won’t drop the lawsuit against Okoli and that he would “rather die than allow someone to tarnish my image I worked 40 years to grow.”
So this asshole is the person churning up that poor woman's isolated bad review into ALL the Streisand effect he can possibly get, as hard as he can, to the point that it is now international news how abysmally shitty his product really is, AND he's also the person announcing dramatically that he'd rather die than allow anyone to do that.
Hmmm. Will he ever connect the dots?
Nah. He'll just keep blaming and harassing that poor woman for the rest of his days while people stop buying his product in droves because both it and he leave such a bad taste in the mouth.
The woman being harassed by this company and the police is the only that's 39. The article doesn't mention the founder's age, and he definitely looks older than 39 from a quick search.
He’s only 39 with a 40 year old image
Lol, great catch! I totally missed that.
EDITED TO ADD: It was the lady who was 39, not the guy suing her. My bad. I should probably just go ahead and revisit Hooked on Phonics now because I can't fucking read, lol.
No kidding. So far:
This is evil, horrific, monstrous behavior. Corruption I think of as selling road building contracts over golf. This is evil corruption.
What are the odds the food owner has a good friend at the ol’ Nigerian Justice Department.
This whole thing is bullshit on top of bullshit.
Almost 100%, The justice dept is behaving in such an over the top way here, it’s either that or they just want to demonstrate how they themselves can get away with mistreating a citizen.
I'm my experience, people like this are shady AF. I had an eBay seller that sent me a car part that didn't match the photo. He kept insisting that he sent the correct part and trying to trick me into sending it back at my cost. It turns out that he was using a drop shipping service that you can use if you own a shop. He had gone out of business and was using an address of a different building that he had sold.
It also turns out that the manufacturer had used the incorrect stock photo for the part. It was neither of our faults, but he wouldn't take ownership as a seller and tried to deny my return and accused me of fraud. eBay gave me a refund on the end because he kept trying to upload something with just the return warehouse address instead of a shipping label like he was supposed to. He lived in a huge house in a major city and wanted to fight me over less than $10 in shipping.
manufacturer had used the incorrect stock photo for the part
That's apparently really common. It's a lot of trouble to bring every transmission, door handle, gas tank, hood hinge, etc... into the studio for a reference image. They use a "basic" image a lot of the times.
I had the good fortune to be able to buy ebay car parts that are exclusively photographed on a dirty workbench, and they've always worked like a charm.
Used market is a bit easier to do that as both the seller and buyer understand that having a clear set with proper lighting isn't necessary.
"This tomato sauce is a bit sweet for my taste."
"FUCK YOU! I WILL KILL YOU, YOUR FAMILY, AND YOUR DOG, BURN EVERYTHING TO THE GROUND AND PISS ON THE ASHES!"
"Jesus Christ, man! I just said it was a bit too sweet."
She actually said something along the lines of "your brother's company is killing people the sauce is so sweet" in response to a comment or so I read in another article this morning.
It's in this article:
Help me advise your brother to stop ki***ing people with his product, yesterday was my first time of using and it’s pure sugar.
I hope that her defense also makes the argument that there is no damages because online reviews have zero value when the majority of them are fake paid reviews.
I can just about hear someone saying, "Do you know who I am?" or "Do you know who my father is?"
This situation just screams of the diabeetus-loving tomato sauce company bribing the local police.
Let's make a competing brand for Africa called BIG-DIKO. Make it the most nutritional and have natty black dudes pose for the cans.
"Zero filler, all substance - get swole, have a BIG-DIKO."
Nah that's ok. You should definitely do that on your own though! Let us know how it works out for you...
Sounds like something someone with high sugar intake would say. I think you might need some BIG-DIKO in your diet.
Holy shit, fuck Nigeria. Can we freedom them next? Sounds like they actually need it, but there's probably no oil to be had.
There's shittons of oil in Nigeria, and most of it is being siphoned off by multinational oil companies.
No need to invade if you can just get the corrupt government you're propping up to sell it to you cheap in the first place.
They have a lot of rich but unfortunate princes though, so there must be something to sustain all the royalty trying to give me their money.
I don't know how to tell you this, but these situations are created by "freedoming" countries. This is neo-colonialism in action.
Nope, not white people. Wealthy colonialists and those who cheer them on. Lately the CPC is joining in on that racket if you prefer your world delineated by race.
As far as large corporations being able to sue you and get the cops to harass you the US may actually be worse.
Jesus fucking christ always this comment 🙄
“Well in the US they put a lady on the rack for reviewing a song in spotify. It’s not true but it’s true because I know it!”
Nintendo literally shut down a company last month for developing an emulator for the switch just by having more money.
Nintendo is a Japanese company. They settled out of court. The US legal system did not get involved...
Yea, it did. In most countries if you threaten to sue someone for something like this the judge would just laugh you out if the court room. What Nintendo did was threaten them with a lengthy legal battle they had no means to pay for and the options were to just shut down and declare bankruptcy or have Nintendo drain their funds and then declare bancruptcy. There was no other outcome because of how the US system of you can sue anyone for anything works.
Yeah and we are talking about a woman being TORTURED in Nigeria.
Not sure how you can think Nintendo suing someone is comparable to this.
According to the article the conditions in the jail were just deplorable to the point of being torture which is also common in the US. So that's also comparable.
Really? I haven’t heard of that. Where have you heard of jail cells with water across the whole floor and no furniture?
If you can provide evidence, I’ll change my mind.
The US literally has the Guatanamo Bay concentration camp for political prisoners so they could legally torture them.
If you want something more domestic then I'm sure one of those had some water or furniture related death: https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-jails-deaths/ Though from what I understand in the US death by cop is the most likely.
Maybe don’t claim their product is killing people because it’s a little too sweet for your taste…?
Okoli responded: “Help me advise your brother to stop ki***ing people with his product, yesterday was my first time of using and it’s pure sugar.”
Yeah that’s not gonna go over well anywhere, even the USA. Especially being a business owner….
It's hyperbole. If you want that to be illegal I'd be hanged for how hyperbolic I am.
Hey hey let’s keep it accurate here. Nobody’s talking about executing her.
So far they’ve only intimidated, tortured, and [reading between the lines with the twelve hour surprise police visit to her home] possibly raped her.
It’s not hyperbole when you are business owner and/or a large following of people who can sway things.
Kind of like police taking advantage of their power and being held to different standards than the general public……
Yeah this shits not hyperbole and she would be sued in the States too, sorry, this isn’t freedom of speech by any stretch here.
She shouldn't have been so melodramatic, but she also shouldn't have been arrested for being melodramatic.
She’s a person in a position of power due to being a business owner and her followers, just like anyone else in that position, they should know better and are held to higher standard.
She fucked up and would be sued anywhere in the world for her remarks, sorry for pointing out facts ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ shits not free speech when you are in some positions, she crossed that line:
Describe what you mean by "freedom of speech" here, I'm assuming you don't mean the first amendment because that only applies in the US and only for protection against congress ( the US congress ofc ).
Given the above I'm not sure what line you mean here, libel/slander?
You can only point out facts that exist, well, you can technically point out whatever you like and call it "fact" i suppose, but it's not really accurate unless it's an actual fact.
Unless accuracy isn't what you were going for ?
In case you were wondering : https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/fact
Freedom of speech is a cultural and institutional phenomenon, which happens to be mentioned by the US Bill of Rights.
It is not a term which refers to the US amendment, any more than “peaceably assemble” or “levy taxes” or “quartering of troops” are references to parts of the US Constitution.
Where is the United States even mentioned Here…?
Thanks for being the stereotypical ignorant American who has to make everything about themselves while also making a complete moron of themselves.
Fucking lmfao.
Here is one example
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, adopted during the French Revolution in 1789, specifically affirmed freedom of speech as an inalienable right.[6] Adopted in 1791, freedom of speech is a feature of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
I mean you can just find in page for "United States"
Also , not american (a good example of an actual fact) and i very specifically ruled out the typical american interpretation of freedom of speech.
The fact that i was asking you what interpretation you were using implies i recognise more than just one, so even if i were american (again, not american) the question would still stand.
I also , very specifically asked what interpretation you were using for your argument, but it seems we've skipped over the questions entirely and gone straight to factually incorrect personal attacks.
I'll just assume you don't have an answer to the actual question given no attempt was made to actually answer it, or perhaps you think your position is unassailable and an answer is beneath you.
Regardless, good luck with fact pointing i suppose.
edit: added answer to your question
You started with the personal attacks first, so why the fuck do you think you deserve better back?
Fucking lmfao.
Hahaha wow! That's your comment about this? Incredible!!!
Sure, if someone writes something on the internet that some business owner somewhere doesn't like, lets just torture them. Makes total sense!
In case you are actually this dumb: Her comment was a so called hyperbole. People like using these, often for humor reasons, especially on the internet and sometimes they are used to clarify something that's actually subtle. Nobody reading that comment actually thinks that she seriously means people would get killed by that stuff. And if they would, she should still be allowed to express what she thinks on the internet.
A person in a position of power is held to different standards, and the article the post was about had nothing to do either torture, of course that’s a terrible thing, but I was sticking to the facts of the article…
McDonalds kills people every day with unhealthy foods. No joke, no hyperbole pure murder. Kills them due to thier greed. I live in the US. Do you think I should be scared 😆
Except this is hyperbole. People can live 80 years off eating McDonald's and others die by eating healthy organic foods in their 50s. McDonald's is a byproduct of the culture. It doesn't kill people so much as their lifestyle kills them.
