Yahoo has agreed to pay $5.4 million to settle a long-running lawsuit regarding the mismanagement of the Yahoo Human Rights Fund (YHRF). The lawsuit, which lasted eight years, sought to hold Yahoo accountable for its failure to properly oversee the fund, established to aid Chinese dissidents imprisoned for exercising their right to free speech.
The settlement includes a $3 million commitment to a new fund that will continue the original mission of YHRF—providing humanitarian assistance to individuals who have been imprisoned in China for speaking out against the government. This move marks the conclusion of a legal battle rooted in the company’s controversial decisions in the early 2000s when Yahoo provided user data to Chinese authorities, leading to the imprisonment and torture of dissidents.
Yahoo’s actions sparked international outrage, ultimately prompting the company to create the Yahoo Human Rights Fund in 2007. The fund was endowed with $17.3 million and aimed to support individuals who had been imprisoned for online speech. However, the fund’s impact was severely undermined by mismanagement, particularly by the Laogai Research Foundation, which Yahoo had partnered with to administer the fund. Under the leadership of the late Harry Wu, a former Chinese dissident, Laogai allocated less than 4% of the fund—just $650,000—toward direct support for dissidents. Instead, the majority of the funds were diverted to Wu’s personal projects and interests, leading to the 2017 lawsuit by a group of Chinese dissidents who had suffered under the regime.
The settlement agreement, reached last week, stipulates that six former political prisoners who filed the lawsuit will receive monetary compensation. Five plaintiffs will receive $50,000 each, with the lead plaintiff receiving $55,000. The remaining funds will be used to create a new humanitarian assistance program, overseen by Humanitarian China, a nonprofit organization founded in 2004 by participants of the 1989 Chinese democracy movement. Humanitarian China has already distributed $2 million in financial aid to dissidents and their families, primarily through donations from individual supporters.
The importance of such assistance cannot be overstated. Many political prisoners released from Chinese prisons face severe challenges, including health issues and difficulty finding employment due to ongoing government surveillance. “It’s a difficult situation,” said Xu Wanping, one of the plaintiffs in the case, in a previous interview with MIT Technology Review. “The sense of isolation and helplessness we feel is overwhelming.” Xu, who lives in low-income housing in Chongqing, added that while he receives a small government hardship allowance, it could be revoked at any time as a tool to ensure his silence.
The legal settlement, though it includes restrictions on public statements, marks a major victory for the plaintiffs. Times Wang, the plaintiffs’ attorney, emphasized to MIT Technology Review that the new fund not only provides crucial financial support but also sends a message of solidarity to the dissidents. “It is a source of comfort to them to know that there are people outside of China who stand with them,” Wang remarked.
This settlement brings an end to a long chapter in Yahoo’s controversial history regarding its involvement in China, which continues to reverberate as the tech company faces ongoing scrutiny over its role in compromising the privacy and safety of individuals living under oppressive regimes.
