Consumers complained about the delivery of goods by a number of head anchors, and false propaganda and other issues exposed shortcomings in the selection of products
How can Internet celebrities who frequently "turn over" bring their goods back on track?
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Since last year, live broadcasts have made rapid progress, and the delivery effects of the head anchors have been particularly strong.
However, recently, many head anchors have received complaints from consumers, and issues such as false propaganda on live broadcasts have attracted the attention of the society and regulatory authorities.
Recently, when a well-known delivery anchor was selling the Tripollar Beauty Apparatus, the propaganda language was suspected of false propaganda, which caused widespread public concern.
Not only this anchor, but there have been many online celebrity live broadcasts that have "rolled over" in recent times, which has attracted attention from the society and regulatory authorities.
In 2020, due to the epidemic and other reasons, live delivery of goods will be launched rapidly.
According to iiMedia Consulting’s data, in the first half of 2020 alone, e-commerce live broadcasts exceeded 10 million, with more than 400,000 active anchors carrying goods, and over 50 billion viewers. The annual market size is expected to reach 961 billion yuan. Cargo effect is strong.
However, the enthusiasm has not yet receded, and consumer disputes have begun to flow in an endless stream.
How can Internet celebrities who want to move forward to ensure their legal compliance?
How to protect the rights and interests of consumers in live delivery?
A reporter from the Workers’ Daily conducted an investigation and interview on this.
"Registration" or "certification"? Live broadcast propaganda is suspicious
Recently, consumers complained that in the live broadcast of the tripollar beauty instrument, the beauty instrument brand operator added “in order to increase the “authority” of the product and convince consumers of its product efficacy. FDA technical certification", and previous reports stated that the product has not been certified by the US FDA, so it is false publicity.
The reporter learned that the so-called FDA refers to the US Food and Drug Administration that takes regulatory measures such as approval and registration of food, drugs, cosmetics, and medical devices.
For relatively low-risk cosmetics or dietary supplements (ie, health foods), the FDA focuses on supervising label specifications and safety, and adopts a registration system.
Mr. Hu Gang, deputy secretary-general of the Rule of Law Committee of the Internet Society of China, said that the general process of “FDA registration” is that the company submits an application to the FDA and submits product information; after receiving the application and information, the FDA gives the company a file number and archives it instead Do the substantive examination, nor issue a medical device registration certificate or confirmation certificate.
"Company registration and product listing information does not mean that the FDA has approved the company and its products.'FDA registration' is essentially a self-commitment of the company or a declaration of integrity, and the relevant legal responsibilities are borne by the company." In Hu Gang's view, "FDA registration" does not mean "FDA certification".
Hu Gang said that if the merchant stated in its promotion that the product is "FDA registered", it is reasonable, but it must clearly indicate the registration number; if the registration number is not stated, it is likely to be out of nothing. People doubt.
If the statement is "FDA certification", it is a misstatement and is suspected of false publicity.
Due to the differences in the legal systems between China and the United States and the independence of regulatory agencies, even if a product is truly “FDA registered,” it may not necessarily meet Chinese laws and standards, nor may it have the right to be sold in China.
Who will supervise the Internet celebrities "what" and "how to say"?
According to the reporter's understanding, some anchors have so many products and categories that it is difficult to fully understand each product.
Driven by pressure or interest, they often have inaccurate checks in the product selection process, and even lack relevant professional knowledge. They often make common sense errors that mislead consumers and overdraw their own credibility.
In fact, false propaganda has always been a topic that cannot be avoided in live streaming.
At the beginning of November 2020, the China Consumers Association released the "Study on the Types of Webcasts Violating Consumers' Rights and Interests", exposing seven major issues that infringe consumers, including false propaganda, sales of prohibited products, difficulty in returning and replacing goods, abuse of limit words, and illegal live broadcast content. In the first place is false propaganda.
There are two main types of false propaganda in live webcast sales: the first is that the graphics and text do not match, and the product recommended by the anchor does not match the actual product.
The second is to exaggerate the publicity, the anchor exaggerates the product's efficacy baselessly.
According to the "Consumer Rights Protection Law", advertising operators and publishers who design, produce, and publish false advertisements of goods or services related to the lives and health of consumers and cause damage to consumers shall be jointly and severally liable with the operators.
Social groups or other organizations or individuals who recommend products or services to consumers in the false advertisements mentioned in the preceding paragraph shall also be jointly and severally liable.
If a merchant has fraudulent behavior in the process of selling goods, consumers have the right to request the merchant to "refund one and compensate three."
During the previous sales process of bird's nest with goods by an internet celebrity anchor, the Guangzhou market supervision department stated that the live broadcast company involved in the anchor had misleading commercial propaganda.
The bird’s nest brand, as the main seller, has misleading commercial propaganda in the content published on Tmall’s “Mingzhi Flagship Store” online store. Its behavior violates the provisions of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law. Order to stop the illegal act and fine the administrative penalty of 2 million yuan.
How to protect consumer rights?
In interviews, many legal experts and industry insiders said that in the current rapid development of live e-commerce, anchors have certain audit obligations for the goods or services they promote, and they should not only focus on performance and data when bringing goods.
Attorney Wang Weiwei, a partner of Beijing Zhongwen Law Firm, said that if Internet celebrities are only endorsements and propaganda instead of bringing goods, it is a problem of advertising regulations.
If false propaganda constitutes a violation of laws and regulations to publish advertisements, endorsements and infringements on the rights and interests of consumers, they will face administrative penalties and even criminal liabilities.
Wang Weiwei said that if consumers' personal and property rights are violated, they can also choose to hold the internet celebrities who are endorsements accountable.
When consumers purchase products recommended by internet celebrities, they should promptly retain evidence such as videos and pictures of the products that internet celebrities promote.
If an Internet celebrity is unwilling to take responsibility for misleading fraud or purchasing a product with quality problems, consumers can first file a complaint with the Consumers Association or the market supervision department. If the problem cannot be resolved, they can file a lawsuit in the court.
Consumers have to keep their eyes open while taking up legal weapons, and they should pay more attention to the source of the data when they see data on web pages or product leaflets.
If the data comes from publicly published scientific or medical literature, capable consumers can also trace the source and pay attention to see if the original intent of the literature matches the brand claim.
Others in the industry suggest that they can learn from the margin system of the e-commerce platform and allow the brand to pay a certain amount of margin after signing the contract, so that they dare not fake it.
In addition, it is also possible to adopt the mode that the anchor pays consumers first, so that the anchor team pays more attention to product selection.
Otherwise, once there is a problem, you will face huge losses.
Reporter: Che Hui Yang Zhaokui