Court Sentences Two Online Piracy Rings for Stealing Zhihu's 'Yan Story' Content

Two criminal cases involving the illegal use of web scraping technology to steal and profit from content on Zhihu's 'Yan Story' platform have recently concluded with verdicts. Multiple defendants have been severely punished by law for their unauthorized mass scraping, distribution, and sale of the platform's serialized fiction, successfully dismantling two distinct online piracy black market operations. The final rulings in these cases have established a robust judicial foundation for the protection of intellectual property on internet content platforms.

In June 2026, the People's Court of Taicang City, Jiangsu Province, issued a first-instance judgment in a copyright infringement case. The defendants, Chen and Yue, jointly developed a 'bot' scraping software specifically designed for the bulk extraction of 'Yan Story' fiction. They then packaged and sold both the scraping software and the acquired database to multiple downstream buyers, who further distributed the infringing content through various channels for profit. This case represented a classic 'tool development - bulk database sale' piracy black industry chain, and both defendants faced severe judicial penalties.

From July 2024 to January 2026, defendant Mao, with the aim of profit and without authorization from the copyright holders, established a website named 'Frost Moon Short Stories'. Using scraping technology, he illegally collected short stories copyrighted by others from multiple platforms, including Zhihu's 'Yan Story', storing them on a server. He then disseminated this content to the public through various channels, selling access via daily and monthly card codes. In April 2026, the Intermediate People's Court of Jiaxing City, Zhejiang Province, delivered a first-instance judgment on this case. The court found Mao guilty of copyright infringement, constituting a particularly serious circumstance. He was sentenced to three years in prison, suspended for four years and six months, and fined 480,000 yuan, effectively punishing this large-scale act of piracy.