(Yicai) Aug. 20 -- Li Auto has contacted the police in China and said it will take legal action after a medical technology firm threatened to release the physiological data of the founder of the Chinese new energy vehicle startup Li Xiang, according to China News Service, which cited the automaker.

Yishide Medical Technology said Li will die of liver cancer soon if he does not seek medical treatment and it will regularly release a physiological report on him based on data publicly available on the internet, the Beijing-based company said in a statement yesterday that has been circulating on social media platforms.

Yishide Medical also said it was terminating all relationships with Li Auto with immediate effect.

Founded in 2022 with a registered capital of just CNY100,000 (USD14,000), Yishide Medical apologised in July for using Beijing-based Li Auto’s logo and a photo of Li without authorization and and for publishing untrue content. Li Auto denied at the time having any links with the company.

Yishide Medical offers artificial intelligence cloud diagnostic and screening services that it claims to be at least 90 percent accurate. People can upload photos and videos to conduct a full physical examination. The software can identify more than 1,700 diseases and is used by people in 33 countries, it claims.

Li Auto’s shares [HKG: 2015] closed up 1.5 percent at HKD81.90 (USD10.50) each in Hong Kong today. The stock has lost 45 percent of its value since the end of last year.

Editor: Kim Taylor