Public blind reviews, illegal traffic manipulation.
Compiled from: Red Star News, CCTV Finance, Market Channel
Case review
In early May this year, the Hangzhou Municipal Market Supervision Comprehensive Administrative Law Enforcement Team, based on tips from whistleblowers, investigated and found that 10 companies, including a brand management company in Hangzhou, were suspected of organizing others to post fake positive reviews for profit.
Moreover, the enforcement team discovered a large amount of evidence on-site, including contracts, chat records, and transfer records. Through these chat records and other evidence, it was found that numerous catering businesses in major commercial areas of Hangzhou were illegally posting fake positive reviews.
In fact, many review apps have had corresponding regulatory measures to prevent businesses from posting fake reviews, but companies organizing such reviews still find ways to circumvent platform oversight.
Xiao Zhu, head of a brand management company in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, said that during the process of participating in fake reviews, they had to check in, take real photos in the store, and make purchases to simulate a genuine consumption pattern. Finally, after posting positive reviews, the company would refund the purchase amount to the reviewers.
Relevant legal provisions
"Anti-Unfair Competition Law of the People's Republic of China"
Article 8
Business operators must not make false or misleading commercial promotions regarding the performance, function, quality, sales status, user reviews, or awards received of their goods, thereby deceiving or misleading consumers.
Business operators shall not assist other business operators in conducting false or misleading commercial publicity by organizing fictitious transactions or other means.
Article 20
If a business operator violates Article 8 of this Law by making false or misleading commercial promotions about its goods, or by organizing fake transactions or other means to assist other business operators in making false or misleading commercial promotions, the supervisory and inspection department shall order the cessation of the illegal act and impose a fine of not less than 200,000 yuan but not more than 1,000,000 yuan; if the circumstances are serious, a fine of not less than 1,000,000 yuan but not more than 2,000,000 yuan shall be imposed, and the business license may be revoked.
If a business operator violates Article 8 of this Law by publishing false advertisements, the penalty shall be imposed in accordance with the Advertising Law of the People's Republic of China.
The E-Commerce Law of the People's Republic of China
Article 17
E-commerce operators shall disclose information about goods or services in a comprehensive, truthful, accurate, and timely manner, ensuring consumers' right to know and choose. E-commerce operators shall not engage in false or misleading commercial promotion, such as fabricating transactions or fabricating user reviews, to deceive or mislead consumers.
[1] The author's perspective
In recent years, there has been ongoing discussion about how paying for fake reviews for merchants can easily lead to falling into fraud traps. Today, we approach this from another angle: even real fake reviews constitute a serious violation of integrity. On one hand, they infringe on consumers' right to know—consumers have the right to be informed of the true condition of the goods or services they purchase. By manipulating reviews, merchants clearly conceal the actual quality of their goods or services, which goes against consumers' right to know. On the other hand, this violates the fair competition order under the Anti-Unfair Competition Law: identical products, differentiated by sales data and reviews, result in one selling well while the other performs poorly, which is clearly unfair.
Many people check reviews left by others on relevant apps before making a purchase. These paid fake positive reviews and sales figures undoubtedly mislead consumers significantly and damage the business ecosystem. "Fake positive reviews" only yield "one-time deals" and fail to win repeat customers. In the long run, what is ultimately "erased" is one's own credibility and "financial prospects." Market regulatory authorities will also crack down severely on such egregious behavior!
