Dr. Xue Zhang presents a seminar on the misleading commercial practices within the Chinese e-commerce ecosystem

Last week, we had the honor of hosting Dr. Xue ZHANG from RSIS | S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies during a research seminar at Hanken School of Economics. She presented a fascinating perspective on the disinformation economy by examining misleading commercial practices within the Chinese e-commerce ecosystem.

Her research uses real-life examples to show how disinformation operates as an ecosystem 𝐟𝐚𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐚𝐥𝐠𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐦𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬, 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐥𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞, 𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐮𝐝.

Dr. Zhang highlighted techniques such as fake reviews, deceptive pricing, and “water armies” on online retail and short-video platforms, showing how these mechanisms can transform falsehoods into monetary transactions.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐞𝐲 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐀𝐈-𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐚𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐦𝐞, 𝐮𝐧𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐲 𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐞.

And the problem does not stop at national borders. Disinformation can undermine trust in legitimate businesses and spread rapidly through global platforms.

Tackling this therefore requires a shared responsibility framework for combating deceptive e-commerce content, calling on governments to strengthen regulation and enforcement, platforms to improve detection and verification, and the public to stay skeptical and report violations.

Thank you, Dr. Zhang, for an insightful presentation.

I had the honor to host Dr. Xue Zhang during her visit to Hanken School of Economics