Tough on Tesco

Tesco's attempts to silence critics in Thailand and the UK appear to have backfired.

The Guardian's David Leigh reports that:

One of the three writers from Thailand whom the giant retailer Tesco is trying to suppress with serial libel writs arrived in London yesterday at the invitation of the free speech body Index on Censorship.

Leigh mentions the various groups here who are not overly impressed with Tesco, from Tescopoly to Article 19

"We condemn Tesco's tactic of issuing defamation writs against those who dare to criticise its aggressive expansion plans in Thailand."

to the National Union of Journalists

"Tesco's bid to silence its critics should be vigorously opposed by all those who believe in freedom of expression. The chilling effect of such actions would be to deny the public the right to know about the practices of major corporations."

and the International Federation of Journalists:

"Tesco is displaying an extraordinary amount of intolerance over what is legitimate journalistic scrutiny. It is very high-handed of them to take this approach."

Leigh's piece includes the Tesco viewpoint too but they have corporate PRs to get their message across.