Collecting the distortions and degradation produced in products and behaviors within Chinese society for the sake of profit: advertisements overriding emergency services, algorithms trapping the elderly, substituting inferior goods for superior ones, etc.
On September 23, a netizen posted that after the union collected membership fees of over three hundred yuan per person, the Mid-Autumn benefit was a shopping voucher of five hundred yuan given to over a thousand members, which could only be used at a very small fruit shop, and was labeled as targeted consumption. In the comments, it was said that state-owned enterprises' internal purchase vouchers are generally more than 30% more expensive than e‑commerce platforms.
On September 23, a Meituan autonomous delivery vehicle drove against traffic on a motor vehicle lane in Haigang District, Qinhuangdao, Hebei, causing road congestion.
On September 22, a student from Jiangxi (IP Jiangxi) posted a video stating that using his own insulated cup to get water from a campus drinking fountain, the machine continuously charges based on water usage, and one cup of water ultimately cost about ¥2.2. Netizens complained it is more expensive than 92 gasoline. The video received over 140,000 likes and more than 30,000 comments.
Xishan Senior High School in Wuxi City, Jiangsu Province, required students to purchase a "smart device kit" priced at 4,280 RMB, with a service life of only three years. Parents questioned why the price far exceeded similar products on the market, believing that the costs of building an "AI campus" were being shifted onto students.
An undercover investigation by Hebei Television found that the Xianyu platform harbors a pornographic traffic-routing industrial chain disguised as photoshoot appointments and fitness. Customer service claimed they could provide services involving minors as young as 14, using high prices and fake medical certifications as bait to route users to private domains for transactions.
Public commentary points out that Chinese tech companies process data at a low cost by exploiting domestic labor, thereby enabling the distillation and application of foreign artificial intelligence models, which has sparked concerns over technological ethics and labor rights.
On September 18, media reports indicated that the crowdfunding platform Shuizhichou increased its platform service fee from 6% to 8% starting August 15. Patient families reported that hefty service fees and channel fees were deducted upon withdrawal. Shuizhichou customer service responded that the price hike was intended to provide higher quality services, which triggered public skepticism regarding its commercial nature versus its charitable positioning.
On September 13th, during freshman registration at the Zhongdu Campus of Shanxi Medical University, it was discovered that the loft beds with desks underneath were not equipped with climbing ladders. Freshmen are required to purchase them themselves at a price of 200 yuan each, sparking questions from students and parents about profiteering. Older students reported that previous cohorts also did not have ladders.
On September 13, a blogger filmed and showed an elderly person's phone, finding the home screen densely packed with 17 pages of various download‑inducing app icons, reflecting the online trap issues faced by the elderly.
On September 15, netizens created a “Domestic Android Ad Nesting Simulator” webpage, turning fake close buttons, layered pop‑ups and fake downloads—common mobile ad tricks—into an interactive experience. Tests by other netizens showed that even after enduring 12 layers of ad tricks, the page could not be truly closed, repeatedly leading to inducement and mistaken downloads.
On September 9, a video from a class in a primary school in Jiangxia District, Wuhan showed students who had not subscribed to student milk being gathered in the back rows of the classroom to take water cups and drink. The Education Bureau responded on September 10, stating it was a misunderstanding by parents and emphasizing voluntary subscription. The incident sparked widespread public questioning of the administrative promotion targets for student milk and the underlying profit chain.
Recently, a Douyin netizen shared a pop-up advertisement on an Android phone. After accidentally touching it, the ad disguised itself as a call from property management, a delivery person, or one's daughter to induce the user to answer. Whether hung up or answered, it would redirect to a spam call interface and play audio in a loop, making it difficult to close.
Netizens used Huawei tablets to test the difficulty of closing startup ads and found that whether clicking close or pressing the X, it forcefully redirects to the next ad in an endless loop.
Recently, multiple Douyin netizens exposed a malicious pop-up ad issue on certain Android phones. After accidental clicks, the ads disguise themselves as property management, delivery, or daughter's calls to lure users into answering. Whether the user clicks 'hang up' or 'answer', it redirects to an unfamiliar call interface and plays a voice, trapping them in an unclosable ad loop.
In early September 2026, a netizen in Shandong reported that their mother suffered a sudden, critical acute myocardial infarction. While panicking, the father, who suffers from cerebral infarction, used an Honor phone to call the 120 emergency hotline. Due to accidentally triggering the system's default full-screen commercial ad 'Magic Pictorial' by swiping up on the lock screen, and because the close button was hidden and he could not quickly return to the dial pad, the golden window for medical rescue was delayed, and the mother unfortunately passed away. After the incident was exposed, it sparked strong condemnation across the internet regarding mobile phone advertisements blocking life-saving channels and flaws in age-friendly designs. [Follow-up · September 11, 2026] On the evening of September 11, the party involved in the Honor 'Magic Pictorial' incident posted a clarification and apology, stating that the father's failure to connect the emergency call during his cerebral infarction episode was a misunderstanding and had nothing to do with the Honor phone. Honor expressed condolences for the death of the party's mother, but accused the false post of causing brand damage, stating that "out of humanitarian care, no further action will be pursued," which triggered netizens' doubts about the embedding of 'Magic Pictorial' and the official attitude. [Follow-up · September 12, 2026] On September 12, the Weibo account of the involved party, Mr. Zhang, showed that it had been deactivated, all content on Xiaohongshu (RedNote) was cleared, and only the report by Jiemian News was retained.