Rumors about KFC's chickens have long gone viral, but it is only now that the company has decided to take the offensive and bring the matter to court. 

A statement released on KFC's Chinese website revealed that the restaurant giant has sued three Chinese technology companies for spreading lies online. The lawsuit was reportedly filed at the Shanghai Xuhui District People's Court against Ying Chen An Zhi Chenggong Culture Communications Ltd., Wei Lu Kuang Technology, and Ling Dian Technology.  

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KFC alleged that these three companies spread rumors about an eight-legged chicken with six wings via articles, photos, and micro-messaging services such as WeChat. KFC is demanding 5 million Yuan ($245,000) from each company, an apology, and commitment to halt their damaging practices. 

"Not only did these rumors mislead consumers, but it also hurt the brand," Qu Cuirong, president of KFC China, said in a statement. 

The Chinese market is KFC's biggest, with more than half of its revenue coming from Chinese consumers.

Daily Mail reported that this practice is widespread in China, and there are some marketing companies that have been convicted of "trying to manipulate online sentiment on behalf of clients by posting false information about competitors or deleting critical posts." 

Many bizarre stories have been making the rounds on social media, such as KFC mutating their chicken to have six wings and eight legs and having live maggots on their grilled chickens. A story posted by Daily Buzz Live even said that KFC kept their poultry alive by inserting tubes into the chickens' bodies to "pump blood and nutrients throughout the structure." It added that the bones are shrunk for more meat to cut back on production costs. 

Speaking about the mutated chickens, Qu said, "If there really was such a chicken, then we would apply for a Nobel Prize in Biology."

Although many experts have already noted that these are only hoaxes, it may not stop KFC from losing consumers out of disgust and lack of trust. 

Qu said that the tales had already been conceived way back when email was new and bulletin board systems (BBS) were still widely popular. Add to this the power of the word of mouth, the hoaxes  are still very much alive and are now being shared on micro-messaging platforms. 

"Strange rumors about our chickens bundled with sensational headlines and pictures with clear traces of photoshop are circulating the public microchannel," said Qu, adding that the false reports are nonsense. 
China's biggest restaurant chain started to embark on the legal road only now as "the burden of proof is difficult." 

This is only KFC's first action. The company is reportedly still gathering evidence that will put all those involved in disseminating these rumors in court. But according to the company, this may take some time as collecting information about the owners of micro-messaging accounts can be very difficult.  

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