Hotspots · Analysis

New regulations have been implemented! Next month, Internet courts will no longer accept five types of cases such as online loan

On September 15, 2025, the Supreme People's Court's Judicial Committee passed the Provisions of the Supreme People's Court on the Jurisdiction of Internet Courts at its 1957 meeting (hereinafter referred to as "2025 New Rules on the Jurisdiction of Internet Courts"), which is a major optimization and adjustment of China's jurisdiction over Internet courts since the Supreme People's Court issued the Provisions of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Trial of Cases by Internet Courts (hereinafter referred to as 2018 Provisions on the Trial of Cases by Internet Courts) in 2018. This also means that from November 1, 2025, five types of traditional Internet related disputes, including cyber personal attacks and online loan disputes, will no longer be centrally tried by Internet courts; At the same time, four new types of Internet related disputes, including network data disputes and platform "one out of two" disputes, will be included in the jurisdiction of Internet courts.

1、 "Clarify four types" of new network related disputes to be centrally heard by Internet courts

(1) Network data disputes

With the increasingly prominent position of data as a new factor of production, legal disputes in data ownership, use, trading, and sharing continue to emerge. Such cases often involve issues such as unclear data ownership and data processing compliance, and it is urgent to clarify the boundaries of behavior and rights and obligations through judicial rulings. In order to specifically solve this problem, Article 1 of 2025 New Rules on the Jurisdiction of Internet Courts clearly stipulates that the first instance cases of "network data ownership, infringement and contract disputes" shall be under the centralized jurisdiction of Internet courts.

(2) Disputes over Personal Information Protection and Privacy Rights on the Internet

In the context of the widespread application of big data and artificial intelligence, incidents of illegal collection and abuse of personal information, as well as facial recognition infringement, have occurred frequently. To unify the judicial standards and strengthen the protection of citizens' digital personality rights. Article 1 of 2025 New Rules on the Jurisdiction of Internet Courts clearly includes "network personal information protection and privacy disputes" into the scope of centralized jurisdiction of Internet courts.

(3) Disputes over virtual property on the internet

The value of virtual assets such as game equipment, accounts, and digital currencies continues to increase, and disputes surrounding their ownership, inheritance, and trading platform responsibilities are gradually increasing. Since these cases are often highly technical and professional, the Supreme Law of the People's Republic of China has made it clear in 2025 New Rules for the Jurisdiction of Internet Courts that this type of dispute will also be tried by Internet courts.

(4) Disputes over unfair competition on the internet

With the continuous development of Internet giants and Internet platforms, new types of unfair competition such as "traffic hijacking", "illegal data crawling", and "one out of two" platforms are seriously disrupting the normal order of the Internet market. In order to promote the formation of a healthy and orderly digital economic ecology, the 2025 New Rules on the Jurisdiction of Internet Courts will also include such disputes in the scope of accepting cases under the centralized jurisdiction of Internet courts.

The four newly added types of dispute cases above all reflect the characteristic of "strong involvement in the internet" - that is, the internet is not only the place where disputes occur, but also the core element that shapes legal relationships. The author believes that this change reflects the expectations and requirements of the Supreme Law of the People's Republic of China for the Internet court to become a pioneer and model of cyberspace governance rules.

2、 Reduce five types of traditional online dispute cases and bring them back under the jurisdiction of grassroots courts

In contrast to the four new types of network dispute cases, the 2025 New Rules for the Jurisdiction of Internet Courts abolished the five types of traditional network dispute cases previously under the jurisdiction of Internet courts, including:

(1) Financial loan contract disputes and small loan contract disputes that are signed and performed on the Internet

(2) Dispute over the ownership of copyright or neighboring rights of works first published on the Internet

(3) Disputes arising from infringement of copyright or neighboring rights of works published or disseminated online on the Internet

(4) Product liability disputes arising from the infringement of personal and property rights of others due to product defects purchased through e-commerce platforms

(5) Disputes arising from infringement of other people's personal rights, property rights and other civil rights on the Internet

This means that disputes, including online loans, personal attacks, product liability for online shopping, celebrity image infringement, celebrity lawsuits, etc., although occurring in cyberspace, are essentially extensions of traditional legal relationships in the online environment. It is no longer under the centralized jurisdiction of Internet courts. The author believes that returning the above cases to the local basic people's court for trial not only reduces the pressure on the Internet court to handle cases, but also helps to realize the rational allocation of judicial resources, which is a two pronged move to ensure both the professionalism of the Internet court and the fairness of the trial of cases.

Conclusion

At the initial stage of the implementation of the 2018 Internet Court Trial Rules, the main task of the Internet Court is to explore the online litigation process and build a complete set of "online trial" mechanisms, including identity authentication, electronic evidence, remote trial, document delivery, etc. Now, with the online litigation platform of the people's court and the gradual landing of "One Network in China", it is also time for the Internet court to usher in a new mission.

In this context, the Supreme Law, by adjusting and optimizing the scope of cases accepted by Internet courts, clearly aims to highlight the important role of Internet courts in the trial of new, cutting-edge, complex, and rule-based network cases.

In a word, it can be predicted that the Internet courts after November 1, 2025 will no longer be simple "online courts", but will continue to output "pioneers" of demonstrative adjudication results through professional and refined trials of new types of online disputes. The results of its judgments will also become a focus of attention and learning for legal practitioners and related industry practitioners.

Industry · New Policies

1、 The Supreme People's Court issued the Provisions of the Supreme People's Court on the Jurisdiction of Internet Courts (FSH [2025] No. 14, hereinafter referred to as the Provisions)

The Regulations adjust and improve the jurisdiction of Internet courts. The Regulations shall come into effect on November 1, 2025. There are four articles in the Regulations, which define the jurisdiction of Internet courts, the rules of agreement jurisdiction, and the appeal hearing mechanism. among which

1. Four new types of network cases are under the centralized jurisdiction of Internet courts, which include "disputes over the ownership, infringement and contract of network data", "disputes over the protection of network personal information and privacy", "disputes over the ownership, infringement and contract of network virtual property", and "disputes over unfair competition on the Internet".

2. Some cases have been adjusted out of the jurisdiction of Internet courts, such as "disputes over financial loan contracts and small loan contracts that have been signed and performed on the Internet", "disputes over the copyright or neighboring rights of works first published on the Internet".

3. The scope of administrative cases and foreign-related cases involving Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan under the jurisdiction of Internet courts should be adjusted accordingly.

2、 The Network Audiovisual Department of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television released the "Management Tips" on September 8th

Propose standardized requirements for the disorderly dissemination and value deviation of animated micro dramas, strengthen the responsibility of platform content review, and require the establishment of a sound "review before broadcasting" mechanism. This move aims to purify the online animation market and guide the healthy development of the industry.

3、 Method for Identifying Synthetic Content Generated by Artificial Intelligence

Jointly issued by four departments, effective from September 1, 2025, it requires the addition of explicit or implicit labeling to AI generated content, prohibits malicious tampering with labeling behavior, and is accompanied by the mandatory national standard "Network Security Technology - Artificial Intelligence Generated Synthetic Content Labeling Method". This move aims to standardize the dissemination of AI content, protect users' right to know and data security.