Chapter 251: The Problem Is Huge (Seeking Monthly Votes)

The Secretary's face was written all over with the word "absurd."

It wasn't just because the Market Supervision Department had issued a maximum penalty, but also because of Xiao Di; it had no presence in the entire incident, yet it was penalized too.

What it means to be hit by a stray bullet while lying down—Xiao Di set the perfect example.

But then again, while Xiao Di didn't do anything itself in the incident, it actually did quite a lot in practice.

Similar to food delivery, there are many cases where the driver eats the passenger's food.

Why so many people have started to hate platforms now is all a consequence of the various efforts made by platforms over these many years.

This is a vicious circle.

Platforms use various ways of burning money to gain traffic, possess market dominance, and then, they can be both the athlete and the referee.

No matter how you report them, in the end, the platform can always pin the penalty on an individual.

And then there are the endless conflicts between drivers and passengers; does that feel familiar?

The tactics are always the same; no matter how they are used, they never get old.

And the reason Liu Yun was stunned there was that this maximum penalty of 0.5% is calculated based on revenue!

An Administrative Penalty is different from others; it doesn't look at your costs, it doesn't look at your profits, it doesn't care about any of that.

Instead, it strikes directly based on the revenue in your financial report!

Some might think this strike is painless, but you are wrong; this strike calculated based on revenue is especially ruthless, guaranteed to make you have a hard time for several years in a row.

Therefore, for an Administrative Penalty, the focus is on the word "penalty"—the goal is to make you feel pain.

Otherwise, if the fine is small and painless, it doesn't even count as a scratch to a company, so what is the point?

In the past, there were no legal provisions for this, but now, there are.

The Provisions on Administrative Penalties for Price-Related Illegal Acts is a regulation just promulgated by the State Administration for Market Regulation this year.

So, it's a coincidence, but can you guess why the results were reached so quickly this time?

To kill the chicken to warn the monkey, it must be fast!

But, returning to the previous topic, why is corporate non-compliance so serious, and why can't it be more ruthless when they are so incorrigible?

It's very simple; if you are a parent and your child is disobedient, would you choose to discipline them, or just kill them?

Many people actually understand this point; it has been this way from ancient times to the present—the livelihoods of millions of canal workers are tied to it, after all.

Of course, in modern society, it cannot be like that, but facing the actual situation, a company must survive first.

That is why there is such a regulation: it can make you feel pain, yet still allow you to live.

"Notify those below; prepare for overtime today," Liu Yun shook her head.

The fine is just a means; the most important content here is actually the deadline for rectification!

Rectification must be carried out, including the most criticized privacy clauses, excessive collection of personal information, and algorithms.

The state is now constantly restricting the behavior of these internet giants through various legislations; in the future, similar situations will surely become more and more frequent.

Without any surprise, Liu Yun was soon called to a meeting.

Only, unlike last time when many high-level executives were filled with righteous indignation, this time, everyone had nothing to say.

The content of the meeting was also simple: quickly notify the employees of the departments below to work overtime for rectification and prepare to pay the fine.

By the way, issue an apology letter as well...

"General Manager Liu, have the Legal Department withdraw the Appeal; we will sincerely apologize to that A Yi."

The Chairman sat there, his face ashen as he spoke.

Although some had considered whether the regulatory authorities would intervene, after it dragged on and eventually went quiet, no one paid it any attention anymore.

As long as that person was dealt with, the whole matter wouldn't count as an issue.

The result was truly unexpected; it was actually an Administrative Penalty issued directly by the State Administration!

Many people know in their hearts what this means.

It means the State Administration had been eyeing this matter for a long time; A Yi's report was just a fuse, an incentive!

So under such circumstances, no one would be stubborn.

A company is indeed important, a major taxpayer, but if you play the stubborn game with the state's rectification and act two-faced, you will truly feel the power of the iron fist.

Therefore, upon seeing this Administrative Penalty Decision, the company's senior management did not have any hesitation.

Apologize, must apologize, sincerely accept rectification, the attitude must be good!

As for the fine being too high, you want to bargain over an Administrative Penalty?

This time it's a fine; next time, it might not be just that.

After finishing the notification, the Chairman looked at Liu Yun and then said again: "Next, let's discuss the company's personnel issues."

Having said this much, Liu Yun had already stood up on her own; there was no need for them to say it, she was definitely going to leave.

With the matter developing to this point, someone has to be the scapegoat, and she was very suitable.

The Chairman nodded slightly; the other party was quite sensible, but today was only the beginning. When tomorrow comes, that is when the main event begins; the company's stock price is likely to take a roller coaster ride.

Regret is truly regret, but regret is useless now, because even if they did it a hundred more times, they would still do the same thing.

But thinking of the figure of the fine, the Chairman felt his chest ache.

Inside the Legal Department, the head of the department received the notice and suddenly came back to life.

Lv Yan felt even more liberated; she had the urge to resign when she knew they still had to Appeal!

Only now, looking at the overwhelming news on the internet, Lv Yan suddenly felt that that A Yi was very formidable.

Who could have thought that he initially only wanted to get a refund on the room fee.

…………

If the Judgment from winning the lawsuit last time only left many people speechless for a moment, then now, this Administrative Penalty Decision issued by the State Administration for Market Regulation is directly a deep-sea bomb!

No, a deep-sea nuclear bomb.

Never before had there been such a large-scale Administrative Penalty for these major internet companies.

Five-thousandths of a company's annual revenue—many companies have corresponding financial statements where one can see exactly what their annual revenue is.

Once you calculate it that way, it's an astronomical figure!

Such a massive fine is truly extremely rare.

One can only say that the behavior of these major internet companies has reached the point where it must be regulated; otherwise, if left to develop wildly, it will truly cause problems.

All the voices of doubt from before vanished completely in an instant.

Such a penalty directly characterizes the behavior of these few internet enterprises from an official standpoint!

Big Data Price Discrimination is one aspect, but there is also monopoly, abuse of market dominance, unfair competition, excessive collection of personal information, and so on.

No matter which one you pull out, it would be enough to put any company in a world of hurt.

Especially the most important one among them: monopoly!

And so, under these circumstances, the headline of a certain singer was directly snatched away, and it parachuted to the number one spot on the trending list!

"Holy crap, such a huge fine? Could it be said that this is all thanks to A Yi?"

"I don't know, but anyway, I really want to see the reaction of these companies now. I wonder if they will still be stubborn and continue to tell A Yi to wait patiently..."

"A tragedy caused by waiting patiently? Will these internet companies use this example when training customer service in the future? Even if there is no result, they must reflect it in a timely manner; at the very least, they must let the other party see an attitude."

"Am I the only one who feels bad for Xiaodi? Sitting at home, the pot fell from the sky, and for no reason, they were fined until they were cleaned out..."

Xiaodi just took a hard hit last year and only just recovered a little this year, only to be stabbed again!

But it is very obvious that everyone is just playing along with the meme; surely no one is actually sympathizing with them.

In other words, if they didn't engage in Big Data Price Discrimination, then no matter how tough the Market Supervision Department is, they couldn't have swung this blade.

Despite how much they disliked A Yi before, when he actually succeeded in being serious, no one dared to be sarcastic anymore.

Someone pretended to be a "rational and neutral" person and said something, only to be sprayed into a sieve immediately.

Do you want to be subjected to Big Data Price Discrimination? Or do you want to have your personal information excessively collected?

It's that simple, answer me: yes or no?

As for those various permissions, if you don't agree, you can't use the app. You say a food delivery app needs your microphone, camera, and such permissions—that seems understandable.

Storage permissions are also okay.

But when I'm not even ordering food, you're still constantly sending my location information—isn't that a bit excessive?

And my photo album, contacts, and so on are being read repeatedly...

Perhaps some people don't care about these things, but others do.

Under this kind of rebuttal, the sarcastic "rational and neutral" people simply vanished.

Now, the other party's ideas are hard and thorny.

And some people have already dug up the news from last year where many internet companies signed pledges not to engage in Big Data Price Discrimination.

"This is the so-called pledge, right? The pledges of these companies are really not worth a fart. Perhaps only penalties can make them realize their mistakes."

Pusa Xiong was already constantly holding his phone and refreshing; he couldn't wait to see the reaction of these companies.

He just didn't expect that this reaction would come so quickly.

By the time he refreshed for the third time, he discovered that Chengdu Company had made a response.

"Due to work negligence in our production and business activities, our company has excessively collected personal information and caused price discrimination... We sincerely apologize to our vast number of customer friends and to A Yi."

"Furthermore, we are withdrawing the appeal for the relevant case and are resolutely carrying out rectifications..."

"An apology letter? They apologized so quickly?"

It hasn't even been half an hour since the Administrative Penalty Decision was released, right?

Should one say they are worthy of being a major internet company? This response speed is truly first-class.

Look at the content again; it's so sincere, so sincere that even Pusa Xiong feels like crying.

Apologizing now—what were they doing before?

People don't shed tears until they see the coffin; it's like that for people, and it's like that for companies too.

Now, those trolls surely have nothing left to say.

Although it is only temporary, being able to see such a harmonious comment section is still very pleasant.

Looking at the popular comments again, unsurprisingly, it is another long comment from the big shot "Zixing Yaoyue".

"Extra! Extra! My brothers and sisters from different mothers on the internet, we have witnessed history today!"

"On this day, we finally saw a surrender faster than the French surrender, and that is the apology letters from the four major internet companies!"

"Now, even the French have to bow down, because in just half an hour, they went from being tough to surrendering."

"Regarding A Yi's seriousness this time, to be honest, I truly agree with it so much!"

"Big Data Price Discrimination might not be a big deal to many people, but just because it isn't a big deal, does that mean it isn't a problem?"

In this long comment, Zixing Yaoyue carefully analyzed the model of Big Data Price Discrimination and explained the exorbitant profits of Big Data Price Discrimination.

It may not be a big deal to many people, but if someone stands up to be serious, even if you don't support them, you absolutely must not mock or ridicule them.

Perhaps many people don't care about those extra few dollars, because someone had commented before: isn't it just that ordering food will be a bit more expensive? What does that count for?

If you're poor, go earn money properly yourself; don't try to save it in this kind of place.

This sounds fine at first glance, but think about it carefully: being overcharged a few dollars for no reason—what does that have to do with whether I am rich or not?

Can't I just be annoyed that he overcharged me those few dollars?

Really, Pusa Xiong felt that these words spoke to his heart once again.

He had the heart to add another "Me too," but then he thought, saying the same thing every time makes him seem uncultured.

After hesitating for a moment, Pusa Xiong replied: "Seconded!"

In a very short time, this long comment by Zixing Yaoyue appeared in many places.

Everyone really wanted to see the reactions of these Company, but you were a bit too fast.

So fast that everyone hasn't even had a chance to react yet.

The internet was in an uproar; in Modu, inside a hotel, Zhou Yi sat before his computer desk, feeling conflicted.

Should he release Video Part Two or not?

Everyone knew quite a lot about this matter, leading to the first instance where "the video hadn't even been released yet, but the event had already concluded."

There was no helping it; who told that apology letter to be so truly shocking.

So what should he do? How about slacking off a bit?

But thinking about how many people still don't know the details, he might as well pad out another video.

While he was at it, he would add in all of Fang Dazhuang's previous remarks regarding Big Data Price Discrimination.

He notified the Company to start making the video, while Zhou Yi was already prepared to claim his reward.

In terms of impact, this incident actually wasn't as large-scale as the time with the Internet Violence.

Because there are truly many people who aren't interested in food delivery or booking hotels online.

In other words, the gimmick wasn't enough.

It wasn't as eye-catching as the Internet Violence incident, with terms like premarital pregnancy, depression, and Bride Price.

So he didn't know what kind of reward he would be given.

"System, claim reward!"

"Task reward of 200,000 in cash has been issued."

Oh, not bad; at least in Zhou Yi's view, this cash reward was far better than things like luxury watches or fancy cars.

You can't sell those, so they aren't as practical as a cash reward.

Now the amount of cash in his hands was back to 400,000; he felt comfortable and could go wild again.

He asked the Company, and the video was still being edited overtime, so he immediately notified them that he should be heading back tomorrow.

He had only gone to the Imperial Capital once, and it was already over.

Through this matter, Zhou Yi also realized Fang Dazhuang's point: filing a lawsuit is merely a means to an end.

Speaking of Fang Dazhuang, Zhou Yi became interested; he thought about getting dead drunk with Fang Dazhuang tonight and then returning to Jingzhou tomorrow.

As it turned out, just as he was about to knock on the door, he saw Fang Dazhuang had already packed his things and walked out.

"Eh, Fang Dazhuang, where are you going?" Zhou Yi asked curiously.

"I have to go to the United States for some private matters!"

Huh? Zhou Yi was stunned upon hearing this: "In such a rush?"

"Yes, a rush; I must leave now, it's a very urgent matter."

Fang Dazhuang didn't joke about such things, so Zhou Yi hurriedly asked: "Do you need me to go along and help? Oh right, I haven't gotten a passport yet..."

"No need, you head back to Jingzhou first; I can come back once I'm done, it should be very quick."

Fang Dazhuang left after saying this, leaving only Zhou Yi standing there, a bit caught off guard.

With Fang Dazhuang gone to get busy, what would he do if he wanted to file a lawsuit in the future?

Zhou Xinran? Don't be ridiculous; everyone knows Xinran is a mascot. You've never seen a mascot take the field themselves.

The problem is huge...

Immersive writing; I got too carried away writing and didn't notice it was past twelve... I'm speechless. Terribly sorry.

This chapter counts as yesterday's... Thanks to Qingfeng, Wenchidage, and sike12; thanks to the three brothers for the tips. Thank you. Asking for votes at the end of the month; I have to go all out.

I will go back and look at the recent bug fixes because I was too busy to attend to them... Routine request for recommendation votes on Monday.

(End of chapter)