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Objectives: To explore the ethical experience and confusion encountered by counselors during the process of online counseling. Methods: Eleven interviewees engaged in online counseling were recruited openly (including 2 pre-interviewees), and a semi-structured interview outline was developed based on the existing research literature related to the ethics of online counseling combined with the purpose of the study, and the primary data were analyzed and refined using the method of thematic analysis. Results: Three kinds of first order themes of ethical issues of online counseling (general ethical issues of online counseling, specific ethical issues of online counseling, and counselors' views on ethics of online counseling) were extracted, including 12 kinds of second order themes, namely counseling relationship, informed consent, privacy and confidentiality, professional competence, handling of crisis situations, ethical issues related to online counseling platforms, technical failures, ethical issues of counselors using social media, the clients breaking out of settings, similarities and differences compared to ethics of face-to-face counseling, and evaluation and recommendations for domestic code of ethics for online counseling. Conclusion: In online counseling, the general ethical issues are more complex and varied, and the special ethical issues are prominent and need more attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]