On 22 May 2025 the Cyberspace Administration of China launched a two-month Qinglang campaign to improve the online business environment by tackling so-called black mouths against companies. The target is conduct that, for profit, uses false corporate information to pressure a company and extract benefits.
Why corporate information became a governance target
For a company, online rumour is not only a reputational problem; it directly affects financing, tendering and partnership negotiations. When negative information can be produced in bulk and distributed with precision, the cost of responding rises sharply.
By connecting the business environment with online information content, the campaign signals that corporate information governance is no longer merely a content compliance question but part of the order of market competition.
How AI changed the cost of rumour
Generative tools have shifted the production of false corporate information from manual invention to bulk generation: copy, charts and purported “evidence” can all be manufactured cheaply. At the same time, AI-generated content is more convincing in form, and harder for an ordinary reader to distinguish.
That makes content labelling a key lever in governance. See our note on the Measures for Labelling AI-Generated Synthetic Content.
Links to later campaigns
Corporate information governance continued afterwards, with further campaigns refining the rules on malicious hype around companies and AI-generated false corporate information. See our note on Qinglang’s campaign against malicious hype around corporate information.
The parallel Qinglang campaign against the misuse of AI technology approached the problem from the technical side, addressing face swapping, voice cloning and missing labels. See our note on the first phase of the Qinglang AI misuse campaign.
Where companies can start
First, build monitoring and evidence-preservation for corporate information, securing evidence early in the spread of a story.
Second, distinguish legitimate criticism from malicious smearing, and pursue commercial defamation or reputation remedies against the latter.
Third, make full use of reporting channels, bringing corporate rumours into a fast-handling process. See our notes on the reporting channel for AI application misuse and on China’s AI development and deployment framework.
The deeper question in corporate information governance is this: when the cost of generating content approaches zero, the way a company protects its reputation must also shift from clarifying afterwards to labelling and rapid handling beforehand.
This article is based on the Cyberspace Administration of China’s campaign to improve the online business environment and tackle online black mouths against companies and public information and is for reference only; it does not constitute legal advice.