Public blind reviews, illegal traffic manipulation.
Compiled from: Red Star News, CCTV Finance, Market Channel
Case review
In early May of this year, the Comprehensive Administrative Law Enforcement Team for Market Regulation of Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, acting on clues provided by a whistleblower, discovered through investigation and site visits that 10 companies, including a certain 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 long had regulatory measures in place to prevent merchants from faking positive reviews, but companies that organize review manipulation still find ways to evade 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 8I'm ready to help translate your Chinese legal content into professional English for the Shenzhen Zhiming Law Firm website. Please provide the Chinese text you'd like me to translate.
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 review manipulation for merchants can easily lead to fraud traps. However, today we approach this from a different angle: even when the reviews are genuine, this still constitutes a serious breach of integrity. On one hand, it infringes upon consumers’ right to know——consumers have the right to be informed of the true circumstances of the goods they purchase or the services they receive. By manipulating reviews, merchants clearly obscure the true circumstances of the goods or services they provide, which violates consumers’ right to know. On the other hand, it infringes upon the fair competition order under the Anti-Unfair Competition Law: identical products, through differences in sales data and reviews, end up with one selling well and the other selling poorly, which is manifestly unfair.
Many people consult reviews left by others on relevant platforms before making a purchase. These fake positive reviews and inflated sales figures, bought with money, undoubtedly mislead consumers significantly and disrupt the business ecosystem. Earning "fake positive reviews" only results in a "one-time deal" and fails to win repeat customers. In the long run, what ultimately gets "brushed away" is one's own credibility and "financial future." Market regulators will certainly crack down hard on such egregious behavior!
