Cyberspace is not a lawless territory. To effectively guide market entities to operate in accordance with laws and regulations and foster a sound competitive ecosystem, the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) released 8 typical cases of online unfair competition on January 31, warning business operators to strictly abide by the bottom line of the law and conduct business legally and compliantly.

"Unscrupulous catteries! Inbreeding! Forged certificates! Faked pedigrees! Kittens with health problems..." Chengdu Zuoqi Culture Media Co., Ltd., which engages in pet cat breeding and cattery operation, posted such false remarks on online platforms while promoting its own cattery business, inflicting adverse impacts on the commodity reputation and business goodwill of its competitors. In response, market supervision authorities ordered the party concerned to cease illegal acts, eliminate the adverse effects, and imposed a fine of 150,000 yuan on it.

Lianyungang Chuangyan Biotechnology Co., Ltd. entrusted others to fabricate infringing content and fake appraisal reports by means of image editing and false comparison, and filed 27 malicious complaints against industry competitors on e-commerce platforms, involving 23 business stores. Affected by these malicious complaints, the relevant stores were imposed multiple penalties by the platforms including fines for counterfeit goods, product removal, account freezing, store blocking, and delisting, which severely disrupted their normal business activities and damaged their business goodwill. Market supervision authorities ordered the party concerned to cease illegal acts and, after a comprehensive discretion of the case circumstances, imposed a fine of 200,000 yuan on it.

Fabricating false information, commercial defamation, malicious complaints... Such acts of unfair competition have disrupted the order of fair competition, and the so-called "commercial warfare" conducted with false information as a weapon will ultimately face severe legal punishment.

At the same time, some businesses use technical means to hinder or undermine the normal operation of online products or services legally provided by other business operators, which has also seriously disrupted the ecological order of online services.

Zhongshan Luxin Computer Technology Co., Ltd. developed and sold the "Diandianyi" software. Without permission, the software captured public commentaries, personal information, IDs, genders, regions and other data of other users on the platform in accordance with preset instructions, and executed 34 automated operations such as automatic following, liking, commenting and private messaging. These acts violated platform rules and undermined data fairness. Market supervision authorities imposed a fine of 1 million yuan on the company.

Xinxiang Hongqi District Jiayou Network Technology Co., Ltd. independently developed and sold software technologies such as "replacement card special effects" and "internal recording card special effects". It helped users bypass the review mechanisms of online platforms by modifying video files and other means to fraudulently obtain platform traffic promotion. Market supervision authorities ordered the party concerned to cease illegal acts and imposed a fine of 100,500 yuan on it.

Inflating search rankings and store competitiveness through fake transactions involving fake order brushing has not only misled consumers, but also damaged the legitimate rights and interests of other law-abiding business operators.

Xiamen Tiandingxing Network Technology Co., Ltd. set up the "Baodanxia" website, which mainly provided order brushing services for merchants on two Southeast Asian cross-border e-commerce platforms and profited by collecting commissions for such services. Market supervision authorities ordered the party concerned to cease illegal acts and imposed a fine of 200,000 yuan on it.

Jiujiang Yinmei Technology Co., Ltd. sold the independently developed "data migration" software, which, without authorization, captured commodity information data on the platform including pictures, text descriptions and prices, sorted and formatted the data into commodity entries for buyers to copy and migrate in batches, realizing the functions of "one-click product copying" and "multi-platform migration". These acts led to the diversion of platform user traffic and business opportunities, damaging the legitimate rights and interests of the platform and the operators on it. Market supervision authorities ordered the party concerned to cease illegal acts and imposed a fine of 120,000 yuan on it.

Some businesses take advantage of information asymmetry to engage in commercial confusion, disrupting the market order. Shanghai Zaoyi Enterprise Management Center applied to telecom operators for 11 broadband lines, built a self-operated "broadband pool" in the park computer room, and split the network of the lines through switching equipment before selling the broadband services in the name of independent broadband provided by basic telecom operators. In the promotion process, the center did not inform enterprises in the park that the service was essentially "shared broadband", and charged fees with reference to the tariff standards of independent broadband of operators in the same period, leading enterprises in the park to mistakenly believe that they were enjoying independent broadband services while actually using low-speed and high-cost broadband services. Market supervision authorities ordered the party concerned to cease illegal acts and imposed a fine of 30,000 yuan on it.

Space Wisdom Decoration and Renovation (Beijing) Co., Ltd., mainly engaged in undertaking interior decoration and renovation projects, carried out false influencer store visit note campaigns to expand store influence and attract customers. Market supervision authorities ordered the company to cease illegal acts and, after a comprehensive discretion of the case circumstances, imposed a fine of 10,000 yuan on it.

It is reported that in 2025, market supervision authorities continued to deploy and carry out special campaigns to rectify online unfair competition acts and constantly optimize the market environment for fair competition. Market supervision authorities at all levels across the country investigated and handled a total of 1,932 cases of various types of online unfair competition, with a total fine and confiscation amount of 71.5294 million yuan.

Source: Guangming Daily