The encyclopedia · Advertising & PR · Marketing decision · 2021
Zuoyebang and Yuanfudao fined for ads that faked teacher records and discounts
Beijing fined tutoring apps 作业帮 and 猿辅导 ¥2.5M each for advertising that fabricated teacher credentials and fake strike-through prices.
Zuoyebang · Yuanfudao · 2021-05
What happened
On 10 May 2021 Beijing's market regulator fined online tutoring apps 作业帮 and 猿辅导 a top-tier ¥2.5 million each for false advertising, after a joint inspection with the national market regulator.
作业帮 claimed it 'cooperated with the United Nations', invented teachers' teaching experience and cited fake user reviews; 猿辅导 claimed 'one-on-one tutoring by a class teacher' and 'your four friends already signed up', and invented teaching credentials too.
Both were also caught marking courses with fake limited-time discounts — prices posted as crossed out but never actually charged — a tactic the regulator called inducing consumers with misleading price comparisons.
The fines landed as the government was tightening its grip on the private tutoring industry, and the two apps became the named example of an advertising culture that invented credibility.
Why it happened
- Fabricating teacher credentials and a UN partnership turned marketing claims into provable lies, which a regulator could verify and punish.
- Fake strike-through prices are price fraud, not a discount, and both apps were caught red-handed on their own sites.
- An industry habit of inventing testimonials and discounts made the whole sector an easy target once enforcement arrived.
The lesson
Advertising that invents credibility is a liability, not a claim. Both apps fabricated teacher records and fake discounts, and the regulator's proof was already on their own pages.
Aftermath
The two apps were ordered to correct the violations while the regulator said it would keep up enforcement against off-campus tutoring institutions. The case was cited widely as the first big signal that China's advertising crackdown on the tutoring sector would be enforced with top-tier fines, reshaping how those companies bought trust with parents.
Sources
- 央视网: 作业帮、猿辅导被处以250万元顶格罚款 (the fined violations, the ¥2.5M each)
- 中新网: 市场监管总局对作业帮、猿辅导虚假宣传顶格罚款 (the false claims, the price fraud)
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