According to the State Administration for Market Regulation, with the transformation of competition formats and methods in the Internet field, with the help of technical means, new types of network unfair competition behaviors such as data crawling and traffic hijacking have occurred frequently, and online false publicity behaviors such as credit speculation, false transactions, and word-of-mouth marketing have been renovated, and online unfair competition behaviors have not only damaged the order of online market competition, but also infringed on the legitimate rights and interests of operators and consumers, and are not conducive to the sustainable and healthy development of the network economy.
In 2023, the State Administration for Market Regulation will continue to strengthen regulatory law enforcement, deploy and carry out special law enforcement actions to "guard" anti-unfair competition, severely crack down on all kinds of online unfair competition, focus on regulating the order of market competition in the Internet field, and continue to promote business entities to standardize operations and participate in fair competition in accordance with the law. Up to now, market supervision departments at all levels across the country have filed and dealt with a total of 6,870 cases of various acts of unfair competition, including 1,209 cases of online unfair competition.
In order to effectively give play to the warning and education role of typical cases, enhance the awareness of business entities to be creditworthy, law-abiding, and operate in compliance, and guide consumers to consume scientifically and rationally, a number of typical cases of online unfair competition investigated and handled in special actions are hereby announced.
1. Unfair competition case of Tianjin Mian Pocket Network Technology Co., Ltd
Introduction to the case
Tianjin Mian Pocket Network Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as the party) provides "one-click moving" service for commodity information data through the development of loading assistant software, and operates online in the service market of different shopping platforms and collects software usage fees. The software crawls the product information data of the data source shopping platform without the consent of the data source shopping platform and the operators within the platform by calling the third-party interface, and uploads it to other competing shopping platforms with one click. As of the incident, the software has crawled more than 9.42 million pieces of product information data.
Legal Basis and Penalties
The conduct of the parties violated the provisions of Article 12, Paragraph 2 (4) of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law of the People's Republic of China, and the parties were ordered to stop the illegal conduct and imposed a fine of RMB 1 million in accordance with Article 24 of the Law.
Case Analysis
Data capture is a commonly used technology in the Internet field, which can realize efficient and automatic network information reading, collection and other technical means, and its design is intended to improve the rate of information exchange. However, some businesses use "crawler" programs to steal information related to other people's stores and directly misappropriate the fruits of others' labor, which is a new type of online unfair competition. On the one hand, the investigation and handling of such cases is conducive to curbing the disorderly expansion of Internet platforms and the barbaric growth of merchants on the platforms, reducing Internet shell enterprises, and providing living space for legitimate enterprises; On the other hand, it is conducive to enhancing the society's awareness of the protection of digital intellectual property rights and helping to promote the improvement and improvement of supporting laws in related fields.
2. Wang Zhigang's false propaganda case
Introduction to the case
The operator of Yunrui Jewelry Store in Ruili City is Wang Zhigang (hereinafter referred to as the party), and when he carried out the sale of jadeite rough stones in the "ice green jadeite" live broadcast room on a platform, there were false publicity behaviors such as setting up fake scenes and hiring Burmese personnel to pretend to be the owner of the goods. The main operation mode of the live broadcast room is to hire Myanmar personnel to sell jadeite rough in the live broadcast room, and in WeChat chats with buyers, they have repeatedly fictionalized entering and leaving the China-Myanmar border to purchase jadeite rough stones; Or let Myanmar nationals pretend to be jadeite rough suppliers in the live broadcast room to "perform" - falsely bargaining for the jadeite rough of the sales company, which is actually to help the sales company sell jadeite rough. In addition, the investigation also found that the parties had published false user reviews.
Legal Basis and Penalties
The conduct of the parties violated the provisions of the first paragraph of Article 8 of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law of the People's Republic of China, and in accordance with the provisions of the first paragraph of Article 20 of the Law, the parties were ordered to stop the illegal conduct and imposed an administrative penalty of RMB 200,000.
Case Analysis
Gambling stone is a jadeite rough stone trading method, popular in the Yunnan-Myanmar border area, with gambling nature. In real life, gambling stones have great risks, and there is a "one knife to get rich, one knife to go bankrupt" evaluation circulating among the public. In recent years, there has been a business of selling jadeite rough in the live broadcast room of social platforms, and some live broadcast rooms take advantage of the audience's unfamiliarity with the actual situation of the China-Myanmar border, falsely claiming that the jadeite rough is from Myanmar and the price is cheap; Through the anchor to brainwash the audience, instilling himself as the owner of the jade factory selling his own goods, pretending to be a Burmese businessman and the anchor bargaining, creating a feeling of taking advantage of the audience and picking up leaks. Poorly informed and dramatic "performances" are more tempting and easier for consumers to be deceived. The market supervision department's heavy-handed blow to this illegal act has let operators know that thinking about innovative business models within the framework of the law is the long-term solution to survival and profitability in the Chinese market system; It also helps consumers keep their eyes open and avoid being deceived by unscrupulous operators.
3. Sichuan Gezhiyue Network Technology Co., Ltd. organized false transactions to help other business operators carry out false commercial publicity
Introduction to the case
Sichuan Gezhiyue Network Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as the party) pushes the "second sales promotion (marketing) plan (plan)" to customers through WeChat, and uses the drainage wizard software to realize the service of product fans, store attention, product collection and other services, all for a fee of 1 yuan per piece. In addition, modify the unit price on a platform store and use the wholesale function to realize the basic sales display, brushing and product praise of a single product; The charging standard for the basic sales display operation of a single product is 300 yuan to 500 yuan per household, and the charging standard for praise and brush orders is 5 yuan per order for more than 100 orders and 10 yuan per order for less than 100 orders. From April 2022 to the time of the case, the parties had swiped a total of 2,644 orders and obtained an income of 18,785 yuan. At the same time, it was found that the parties advertised to customers through WeChat and PPT introductions that Gezhiyue E-commerce was an official cooperative operation service provider of a platform and had a professional team of more than 200 people.
Legal Basis and Penalties
The conduct of the parties violated the provisions of the first and second paragraphs of Article 8 of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law of the People's Republic of China, and in accordance with the provisions of the first paragraph of Article 20 of the Law, the parties were ordered to stop the illegal conduct and imposed an administrative penalty of RMB 200,000.
Case Analysis
Online consumption has become one of the main consumption methods, and consumers tend to take the quality of online reviews, sales, attention, etc. as an important basis for choosing store consumption. In this case, the parties helped other business operators to falsify the whole chain of product fan attention, store attention, product collection, sales display, praise, supplementary orders, etc., misled consumers in their judgment of relevant products or services, and made false publicity on their own service quality to obtain more trading opportunities, and their behavior seriously disrupted the order of market competition.
4. Sanduo Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd. made false commercial publicity cases for user evaluations of goods
Introduction to the case
Sanduo Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as the party) entrusted Shenzhen Caotian Marketing Management Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Shenzhen Caotian Company) to conduct marketing publicity on Mobai Baijiu through false question-and-answer word-of-mouth marketing. Shenzhen Caotian Company falsely promoted Mobai Baijiu through online consultation and social platforms such as Q&A and Tieba on a platform, publishing articles and Q&A-style word-of-mouth marketing. Among them, Q&A-style word-of-mouth marketing is used by Shenzhen Caotian Company to simulate the tone of consumption choices and actual buyers, falsely claiming that the purchase and tasting experience of ink baijiu is good, so as to deceive and mislead consumers.
Legal Basis and Penalties
The conduct of the parties violated the provisions of the first paragraph of Article 8 of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law of the People's Republic of China, and in accordance with the provisions of the first paragraph of Article 20 of the Law, the parties were ordered to stop the illegal conduct, and in combination with the discretionary opinions, they were fined 30,000 yuan.
Case Analysis
Word-of-mouth marketing refers to the fact that enterprises develop word-of-mouth promotion plans while providing consumers with products and services, so that consumers can automatically spread the good evaluation of the company's products and services. Word-of-mouth marketing, also known as viral marketing, its core content is to use the event as the virus body that "infects" the target audience, and the strength of the virus body directly affects the effect of marketing communication. In today's era of information explosion and media flooding, novel word-of-mouth communication content can quickly attract the attention and discussion of the public, and obtain huge traffic. Considering the speed of its spread and the breadth of its coverage, it is extremely important to regulate word-of-mouth marketing. For consumers, the question-and-answer word-of-mouth marketing method used by the parties is more affinity, making consumers more susceptible to misleading. The investigation and punishment of such fictitious user evaluation behaviors reflects the comprehensiveness of market supervision and the seriousness of protecting consumers and legal compliance operators; At the same time, consumers can understand the diversity and concealment of false propaganda behavior, and improve their ability to identify goods and services.
5. Wu Shaoqing helped other business operators to carry out false or misleading commercial publicity cases by organizing false transactions
Introduction to the case
Wu Shaoqing, the party in this case, set up a "studio" in Banzhou District, Zunyi City, and released information such as "we can provide merchants with brush sales, praise business, etc." to operators through a platform to solicit business, and posted the solicited brushing tasks on the "old K" software platform. After receiving the order, the "brush hand" in the "old K" platform simulates the normal shopping process to purchase goods that require false sales and praise on a platform, and then the platform merchant mails cheap small gifts such as paper towels and washing powder or empty package slips to the "brush hand" to complete the logistics process, and the logistics information shows that after the receipt, the "brush hand" praises the product. The parties take a commission on the commission of the "brushing hands", and make a profit of 2 yuan for each brush order. As of the time of the case, the parties had provided a total of 3,416 false sales and praise services for operators on the platform, with a fictitious sales amount of 730,973.26 yuan, a commission of 32,473.5 yuan, and a total of 6,832 yuan of illegal gains.
Legal Basis and Penalties
In accordance with the provisions of the first paragraph of Article 20 of the Law of the People's Republic of China and the second paragraph of Article 28 of the Administrative Punishment Law of the People's Republic of China, the parties were ordered to stop the illegal conduct and imposed administrative penalties of confiscating 6,832 yuan of unlawful gains and fining 300,000 yuan.
Case Analysis
On the Internet e-commerce platform, in the face of a large number of goods and services, user evaluation is often an important reference factor for consumers to choose goods. The original intention of e-commerce platform operators to set up online reviews and rankings is to collect and display the big data formed by the real feedback of Internet users after consumption, reflecting information such as popularity, strength and market reputation, so as to help consumers make judgments and choices more conveniently. Some unscrupulous merchants use various means of "letter speculation and brushing" to increase the click rate, number of fans and praise of merchants' platforms. The parties indirectly complete the task of brushing orders through the "brushing hands" in the "old K" software platform, and their behavior is more hidden and complex, and it is more difficult to crack down. The online black ash industry has developed to the point where it can affect the survival of merchants, seriously damaging the legitimate rights and interests of consumers such as the right to know and the right to choose, destroying the market order of fair competition, and not conducive to the healthy development of the Internet ecology. Market supervision departments will always maintain a high-pressure posture against such illegal acts and regulate the orderly development of the Internet economy.
6. Unfair competition case of Shanghai Entropy Cloud Network Technology Co., Ltd
Introduction to the case
From December 5 to February 6, 2022, Shanghai Entropy Cloud Network Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as the party) developed and operated a WeChat public account named "ChatGPT Online", using a pattern highly similar to the official image of OpenAI as the WeChat official account avatar, and introduced it as "ChatGPT Chinese version" on the official account. The official account contains an AI conversation function and is charged per visit. In fact, the parties are using technical means to call the basic model behind the ChatGPT product to provide services similar to "ChatGPT" for their official account registered members, rather than the "ChatGPT" product itself. According to statistics, the WeChat public account involved in the case registered a total of 4,231 paying users, recharged membership fees of 165153 yuan, and then generated a refund of 39,767.56 yuan, with a total business turnover of 125,385.44 yuan.
Legal Basis and Penalties
The conduct of the parties violated the provisions of Article 6 (4) of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law of the People's Republic of China, and in accordance with the provisions of the first paragraph of Article 18 of the Law, the parties were ordered to stop the illegal acts and imposed an administrative penalty of 62,692.7 yuan on the parties.
Case Analysis
ChatGPT is a new artificial intelligence technology-driven natural language processing tool launched by OpenAI, an artificial intelligence research laboratory in the United States, that can communicate with humans like a real person, and quickly became popular on social media. At present, ChatGPT does not support Chinese users, but many people want to try it early, which makes some companies see business opportunities and obtain illegal benefits through popularity, and the parties are one of them. Such emerging high-end Internet technology industries have high information barriers for the general public, and "ChatGPT" is a hot spot on the Internet, and the above-mentioned confusing behaviors carried out by the parties are relatively hidden from the perspective of the public. By investigating and handling such cases, it will help consumers keep their eyes open, distinguish between the authenticity of goods and services in high-tech industries, and warn business operators not to attempt to deceive and mislead consumers in areas with high information barriers.
7. Beijing Hi Pu Advertising Co., Ltd. made false or misleading commercial publicity for other business operators
Introduction to the case
From August 2022 to February 2023, Beijing Hi Pu Advertising Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as the "Party") signed the "Hi Pu Operation Agency Operation Cooperation Agreement" with Beijing Hualin Lin Yu Sports Technology Development Co., Ltd. and other 7 units, to operate on behalf of the above-mentioned units' merchant stores on the platform, and organize employees to fabricate 18 fictitious positive reviews for the online stores of the above units by purchasing merchant goods online, uploading photos of others, and fictitious in-store participation activities, etc., in order to improve the ranking and attention of merchants' online stores. Engage consumers.
Legal Basis and Penalties
The conduct of the parties violated the provisions of the second paragraph of Article 8 of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law of the People's Republic of China, and in accordance with the provisions of the first paragraph of Article 20 of the Law, the parties were ordered to stop the illegal conduct and fined 100,000 yuan.
Case Analysis
The rise and development of e-commerce has made consumers more inclined to rely on "content judgment" to purchase and consume goods or services, and "content judgment" has also brought greater "drainage effect" to operators. However, the "monetization" of traffic has also led some unscrupulous merchants to obtain false positive reviews through "cheating" methods such as "order speculation". User praise is an important indicator for consumers to judge the quality of goods and the reputation of merchants, and attracting consumers through fictitious praise and other methods infringes on the legitimate rights and interests of consumers, and also destroys the market order of fair competition in e-commerce.
8. Shenzhen Zhishuo Cloud Technology Co., Ltd. obstructed and destroyed the normal operation of the "Douyin" software
Introduction to the case
In order to seek illegal benefits, Shenzhen Zhishuo Cloud Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as the "party") promotes the "Zhishuo Cloud" group control management system suitable for short video software such as the "Douyin" APP through its official website and third-party websites such as Souhou.com, as well as network platforms such as WeChat Moments, and conducts external investment cooperation, recruitment agents and sales profits on the system. The system is composed of the "main console" of the computer PC and the "Douyin" APP of the mobile phone, and through the "main console" to the "Douyin" APP group click instructions, multiple "Douyin" APP fake accounts are logged in and group control operations are carried out, so as to realize the functions of batch simulation of brushing videos, following "Douyin" big V videos, private messages "Douyin" fans, batch comments, automatic release of works and other functions. The amount of the parties selling the "Zhishuo Cloud" group control management system totaled 731,240 yuan.
Legal Basis and Penalties
The conduct of the parties violated the provisions of Article 12, Paragraph 2 (4) of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law of the People's Republic of China, and pursuant to Article 24 of the Law, the parties were ordered to stop the illegal conduct and imposed an administrative penalty of RMB 300,000.
Case Analysis
The development of the Internet depends on free competition and innovation in technology and business models, but competition and innovation should be bounded by not infringing on the legitimate rights and interests of others. "Douyin" software is a short video sharing software legally owned and operated by Beijing Weibo Vision Technology Co., Ltd., which has formed a "Douyin" ecosystem with a large user base after long-term business investment, with high market awareness and good business reputation. However, the party's "Zhishuo Cloud" group control system seriously interfered with the accurate distribution mechanism of the "Douyin" platform based on several indicators such as the number of comments, likes, and shares, and created a large amount of false traffic, thereby increasing its own market trading opportunities and obtaining market competitive advantages, hindering and destroying the normal operation of the "Douyin" software, and disrupting the order of fair market competition, and should bear corresponding responsibilities according to law.
9. Jiaxing Haowei Trading Co., Ltd. false publicity case
Introduction to the case
Jiaxing Haowei Trading Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as the party) carried out clothing sales through its webcast room opened in a platform store, and without testing the fiber content of the products sold, used the mouths of employees in the live broadcast room to falsely claim that the fiber components of its products contained "wool, cashmere, camel down, goose down, mink, young martens, imported mink, undyed rare mink", etc., and after sampling testing, it was found that the actual fiber components of its products were polyester fiber, nylon, acrylic, spandex, cotton, viscose fiber + lyocell, etc. The sales of the parties' live broadcasts on November 11 and November 15, 2022 were 9.1618 million yuan, with a cumulative number of 5.211 million viewers.
Legal Basis and Penalties
The conduct of the parties violated the provisions of the first paragraph of Article 8 of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law of the People's Republic of China, and in accordance with the provisions of the first paragraph of Article 20 of the Law, the parties were ordered to stop the illegal conduct and imposed an administrative penalty of 650,000 yuan.
Case Analysis
Live streaming shopping is a popular consumption channel nowadays, allowing consumers to read all kinds of necessities without leaving home. However, "traffic" does not mean "quality", and some merchants "make up their mouths" when selling live broadcasts, in order to use false commercial publicity to gain a favorable position in competition, this behavior will eventually be punished by law. The investigation and handling of this case not only deterred prominent problems and industry chaos in online live broadcast sales, but also effectively protected the vital interests of consumers.
For more exciting information, please download the "Central Radio Network" client in the application market. Welcome to provide news clues, 24-hour reporting hotline 400-800-0088; Consumers can also complain online through the "Woodpecker Consumer Complaint Platform" of the Central Broadcasting Network. Copyright statement: The copyright of this article belongs to the Central Radio Network, and shall not be reproduced without authorization. Please contact: [email protected], we will be held accountable for acts that do not respect the original.
![OpenAI Launches ChatGPT's New Interface, Canvas, More Efficient Writing and Coding, A New Era of AI Collaboration![fig]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=)