Doubao Launches Commission Fees for Merchant Recommendations: Can AI Maintain Objectivity?

On August 20, Doubao—ByteDance's AI assistant—officially rolled out its channel service fee policy, which had been a hot topic on social media for some time. The policy applies to multiple categories including hotels, life services (such as maternity care), education and training, home improvement, leisure and entertainment, and fitness, with commission rates ranging from 8% to 18%.

For hotel bookings, the combined fee stands at 12%: 11.4% as a group-buying service fee plus an additional 0.6% fixed payment processing fee, according to merchant backend screenshots reported by media. This makes Doubao the first domestic AI chat interface to implement large-scale transaction commissions, sparking debates about whether the AI can maintain objectivity now that it profits from its recommendations.

To verify the neutrality of Doubao's recommendations, a reporter posed as an ordinary guest and visited three top-ranked Beijing hotels suggested by Doubao. All three hotels stated they had no cooperation with Doubao. One chain hotel's front desk noted that Doubao doesn't support direct bookings; instead, links redirect to other platforms like Meituan, Ctrip, or Huazhu APP. Another hotel staff said they were unaware of Doubao's fee policy and hadn't received any cooperation notices. The third hotel mentioned that the booking link from Doubao actually leads to Huazhu Club, but they didn't know if Doubao was charging a commission for this.

Doubao's PR director Liu Xing responded that the platform doesn't offer paid promotion services—merchants can't influence recommendations or rankings through payments, and commissions are only charged after successful transactions. However, third-party data from QuestMobile shows that Doubao relies heavily on ByteDance's ecosystem content: in destination recommendations and travel guides, it references 97.7% of Douyin content and 84.5% of Toutiao content, forming a clear "ecosystem closed loop". This tight connection between its content sources and commercial interests (via Douyin Merchant Portal transactions) has raised concerns about potential bias.

Social media users have voiced their doubts. One Weibo user asked, "If Doubao takes commissions, can its recommendations still be trusted? What's the difference between it and other platforms that make money from recommendations?" Another user questioned whether the AI would prioritize hotels with higher commissions over those with better reputations.

Pan Helin, an economist and member of the Information and Communication Economy Expert Committee under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, warned that charging commissions could backfire. "Consumers may not accept this because they'll see the AI as acting for payment, which undermines its objectivity," he said.

As Doubao navigates between commercialization and user trust, whether it can strike a balance remains to be seen.

Sources

• Sina Finance Article: http://cj.sina.cn/articles/3215951873/bfaf880102702lf62