According to media reports, the e-commerce company Douyin recently disclosed that a black public relations network is paying to organize a large-scale rumor attack against it. An article that has been officially clarified and refuted not only continues to spread on multiple platforms, but even more so, companies openly sell batches of offensive articles as paid cases.
The very act of “clearly marking prices to organize public opinion attacks” has broken through the bottom line of business ethics and network governance. Normal criticism and supervision are rooted in facts, and the purpose is to promote the solution of the problem; but if "attacking a certain company" is made into a standardized product, priced by article, and distributed by group, the nature has changed, which is causing harm.
This "business" treads exactly on the red line drawn by the "Qingming" special operation. In May 2026, the Central Cyberspace Administration of China launched the special action of "Clearing and Optimizing the Business Network Environment to Censor Malicious Speculation of Enterprise-related Information", which clearly listed "the promotion of negative information about enterprises through 'payment streaming' and other methods to artificially create or amplify hot spots of public opinion about enterprises" as a key target of rectification.
By comparison, the 200,000-yuan "overall draft + expert draft + media group top copy + red envelope" almost corresponds to the lesions on the remediation list item by item from the production link to the distribution link. During the special operation, cyberspace departments at all levels cleared more than 1.56 million pieces of infringing information involving enterprises and disposed of more than 26,000 illegal accounts. Behind these numbers is the reality that "black public relations" has spread from individual cases to an underground industry. The reason why this case deserves to be examined from a governance perspective is that it reveals a gray chain that can be replicated, priced, and operated on a large scale. Every link in the chain is operating the public opinion space as private territory, and what is really being consumed is the public's trust in information and companies' expectations for a fair competitive environment.
The law will not be lenient just because it is "covered in public relations". The essence of public opinion blackmail is to create public opinion pressure by spreading rumors and spreading negative information, and then in exchange for financial or commercial benefits. In April 2026, the "Procuratorial Daily" published an article clearly stating that such behavior "regardless of whether the content of the threat is true or not, as long as the perpetrator uses threats to extort public and private property for the purpose of illegal possession, it constitutes the crime of extortion."
Judicial practice is also sending clear signals. In the past, similar acts were mostly treated as illegal business crimes, but the "public opinion blackmail" case detected in Hangzhou has been investigated as extortion, and the sentencing for the latter is much heavier than the former. This means that the party “taking orders” can no longer use “I’m just doing public relations” as a shield. Similarly, the party who "places the order" is by no means an innocent bystander. Paying to organize large-scale attacks on specific companies may legally constitute joint infringement or even joint crime; in terms of business ethics, it is using unfair means to replace fair competition.
Looking at a deeper level, what this kind of "business" really erodes is the foundation of the business network environment. A healthy market allows criticism and should also accommodate sharp criticism. If an enterprise does something wrong, the media and the public will criticize it when it is necessary, and supervise it when it is necessary. This is the normal state of a market economy and a society governed by the rule of law. But when "criticism" can be paid for production, "supervision" can be clearly marked with a price, and "negativeness" can be wholesaled as a commodity, real businesses will face a distorted situation. Over time, bad money drives out good money, which damages not only the reputation of one or two companies, but also the confidence of all market entities in the basic rule of "competition based on ability." The Central Cyberspace Administration of China’s special action to rectify the malicious speculation of enterprise-related information is to “further optimize the business network environment and protect the healthy development of enterprises.” Escort is not to protect shortcomings, but to pull the public opinion field out of the quagmire of "whoever pays is right" and "whoever is more ruthless will benefit", so that criticism can return to facts and supervision can return to justice.
Cyberspace is not a place outside the law, and the right to speak public opinion should not be put on the shelf. Public relations can exist, and normal public relations explanations and clarification of facts are what society needs; but once public relations turns into an organized attack priced on a per-share basis, it is no longer public relations, but a black product of public opinion disguised as a company. A clear Internet environment and fair competition cannot tolerate the violence of public opinion with clearly marked prices.
