False or Misleading Commercial Behavior Under Investigation in China Livestreaming

Chaileedo Press
Apr 25, 2023
2 min read

Recently, the China Fujian Provincial Administration for Market Regulation issued a notice on conducting the special law enforcement action against unfair competition in 2023. The special action will be organized from April to December and will focus on investigating unfair competition in online activities, strengthening the supervision of new commercial marketing behaviors, and protecting the core competitiveness of enterprises.

For online unfair competition, this action will focus on investigating false or misleading commercial propaganda in network live broadcasts, investigating false or misleading commercial propaganda about product functions and effects through fictional plots, topic deduction, and other means, investigating the use of keyword association and setting false operation options to deceive or mislead users into clicking on links that direct to their own products or services, and investigating the illegal acquisition and use of commercial data lawfully held by other operators to disrupt the order of fair competition.

The action will also focus on investigating fake reviews and manipulating stock prices: investigating the behavior of creating false reputation and inducing consumption by sharing false consumption experience, publishing "exquisite reviews," or homogeneous positive reviews through network celebrities and well-known bloggers.

The action will strictly investigate the help behavior of organizing fake or misleading commercial propaganda on transaction information and user evaluation, such as pumping up transaction volumes and manipulating data. Law enforcement will crack down on behaviors that entice users to make specified evaluations, likes, and targeted voting by offering cash rebates, red envelopes, and other incentives.

In terms of law enforcement and supervision of new commercial marketing behaviors, the action will strictly investigate false or misleading commercial propaganda about "consumption" products as drugs, and false or misleading commercial propaganda about new technologies such as "gene testing", and investigate false or misleading commercial propaganda about children's cosmetics.

In addition, this action will focus on protecting enterprises' core competitiveness such as business secrets, brand identification, and commercial reputation. It will strengthen the protection of business secrets of various enterprises, including technology enterprises, private enterprises, and foreign-funded enterprises. It will also strengthen the protection of brand identification of well-known enterprises and quality products, and investigate behaviors such as riding on the popularity, imitating and confusing others. The action will also investigate behaviors that deliberately spread false information created by others to discredit competitors.