Our analysis revealed that circAATF upregulated PD‐L1 expression at the transcriptional level via activating AKT signalling, and at the post‐transcriptional level via eliminating the inhibitory effects of miR‐142‐5p, thus leading to a tumour immune evasion mode; the miRNA sponge effects of circAATF also led to an elevated level of linear AATF expression, which directly promoted the cell growth of GBC (Figure S9). Here, AKT1 is linked to neoplasm.