What was fined
IT Home reported on October 10, citing the Shenzhen Administration for Market Regulation, that a small service provider was recently fined 50,000 yuan. The regulator's stated reason was "extracting AI inclusion standards and fabricating false rankings in bulk," and it treated the conduct as false advertising.
The report calls the business GEO: optimization aimed at what a large model replies, which is not the same thing as SEO competing for web-page rank. It calls the result, a business showing up in AI answers, "AI advertising."
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What the regulator concluded
The Shenzhen regulator found that the company fabricated false industry scores. It said the conduct violated Article 8 of the Interim Provisions on Online Anti-Unfair Competition and Article 9 of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law, constituted false advertising, and drew a fine of 50,000 yuan.
The report does not name the company, the industry, or the scores that were invented.
[1]A June case in Chaoyang
IT Home writes that in June the Chaoyang District Administration for Market Regulation in Beijing announced a similar case. A GEO provider invented, on its own website, a score of 99.6, a market share of 49 percent, and a renewal rate of 99 percent. That regulator said the conduct interfered with the normal operation of AI search products and also imposed a fine of 50,000 yuan.
Both fines are 50,000 yuan. The report does not compare the two firms' size, and it does not say whether the Shenzhen case is under appeal.
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