In 2023, punitive compensation was applied in 319 cases, marking a 117% year-on-year increase, with a total compensation of 11.6 billion yuan, a 3.5-fold increase compared to the previous year.
Market supervision departments at all levels inspected 79,000 units involved in charging fees for enterprises, imposing fines of 430 million yuan and returning 2.16 billion yuan to enterprises. These supervision departments also handled 12,496 unfair competition cases in 2023.
Market regulatory authorities across China have investigated and dealt with 1,209 internet unfair competition cases since the beginning of 2023, according to news released on Thursday.
Baidu has filed lawsuits against Apple over fake copies of its Ernie bot app available on Apple's app store. The company's artificial intelligence powered Ernie bot, launched last month, has been regarded as China's closest answer to the U.S.-developed chatbot ChatGPT.
The State Administration for Market Regulation is soliciting public opinion on a draft amendment to the Anti-Unfair Competition Law, which focuses on digital economy, according to its official website on Tuesday.
