IT Home On October 10, according to the Shenzhen Market Supervision Bureau, a small service provider was fined 50,000 yuan by the market supervision bureau for “stealing AI inclusion standards and fabricating false rankings in bulk”.
GEO (AI Model Output Optimization) emerged after DeepSeek became popular. Unlike traditional SEO (Search Engine Optimization) which competes for web page rankings, GEO targets the content of large models’ responses. Service providers study AI’s preference for answers and produce content that is easier for AI to reference, helping businesses gain visibility in AI chat interactions—that is, “AI ads.”
The Shenzhen Municipal Market Supervision Bureau found that the company actively detected large model response preferences through a “GEO analysis system” and obtained inclusion standards from the AI platform. To increase the probability that advertising content will be cited by AI, the company also fabricated false industry ratings and published the relevant information on multiple social platforms.
The Shenzhen Market Supervision Bureau believes that this act violates Article 8 of the Interim Provisions on Online Anti-Unfair Competition and Article 9 of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law, constitutes false promotion, and resulted in a fine of 50,000 yuan.
IT Home noticed that in June this year, the Beijing Chaoyang District Market Supervision Bureau also reported a similar case. A GEO service provider fabricated data on its official website, including a score of 99.6, a market share of 49%, and a renewal rate of 99%. The regulatory authorities believed that these actions disrupted the normal operation of AI search products, and imposed a fine of 50,000 yuan on the company.