Both parties surrendered their illegal profits on June 4 after the Beijing Internet Court ruled on China's first case over unpaid fees for illegally faking online views around two weeks ago.

Beijing Internet Court rules on China's first case over unpaid fees for illegally faking online views on May 23. [Photo/bjinternetcourt.gov.cn]

In the testimony, the defendant, surnamed Xu, admitted to making a contract with the plaintiff, surnamed Chang, for Chang to increase views of an online game through an internet service.

Xu paid some money to the plaintiff, but refused to pay the rest because she thought the view data was problematic. Chang took Xu to court, claiming Xu did not fulfill their contract.

Zhang Wen(middle), president of Beijing Internet Court in charge of the case, deems the contract invalid and illegal in accordance with Chinese Contract Law. [Photo/bjinternetcourt.gov.cn]

After a two-hour hearing, Zhang Wen, the court president in charge of the case, deemed the contract invalid and illegal in accordance with Chinese Contract Law, "as it damages public interests and disturbs the cyberspace order".

The number of online views can help netizens better assess an online service, product or platform, "but falsified views as in this case is a kind of fraud, misleading users and bringing disorder to the online business environment," Zhang said.

Under the ruling, both parties were also ordered to hand over their illegal gains to the court, which they did on Monday. The court received 16,310 yuan ($2,360) from Chang and 30,743 yuan from Xu. 

It also sent judicial suggestions to the city's public security bureau and the market regulation administration, calling on them to join hands to fight online violations such as forging online views.