Zuoyebang and Yuanfudao Receive Fines of CNY 2.5 Mn

Consumer Discretionary Author: 唐楠 Editor: 张宇喆 May 10, 2021 02:00 PM (GMT+8)

On May 10, the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Market Supervision issued an announcement that, according to the law, two off-campus education and training institutions, namely, Zuoyebang and Yuanfudao would be given an administrative penalty – a warning and a limited fine for false publicity and false pricing.

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Meanwhile, they responded with regret that they would sincerely accept the punitive decision of the regulatory authorities, carry out self-inspection, and audit the products and various channels.

According to the governmental announcement, Zuoyebang falsely claimed cooperation with the United Nations on its official website, fabricated teachers' teaching experience, quoted untrue user comments and labeled incorrect prices. Yuanfudao similarly lied on its website about offering '1-to-1 synchronous tutoring of the headteacher,' 'WeChat 1-to-1 tutoring,' 'four of your friends have successfully entered the class… Click this to snap up.' The company also made up claims about teachers' teaching experience and promote other untrue content. All of the above are instances of 'false or misleading commercial propaganda,' which is in violation of the 'Anti-Unfair Competition' Law of the People's Republic of China.

The State Administration of Market Supervision said that it would continue to focus on cases in the field of people's livelihoods, strengthen the legal enforcement of off-campus education and training institutions, make a crackdown on all kinds of illegal activities, standardize of market operation order and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the people.

At the beginning of the year, the Municipal Education Commission, the Municipal Supervision Bureau has repeatedly rectified training institutions for the same reasons, including false publicity, unqualified school running and high tuition fees.