"Double 11" has not arrived yet, the bombing of SMS phone calls has arrived
Reporter investigates the problem of harassing people by selling information before the shopping festival
Editor's note
Every year "Double 11" is a consumption carnival and feast.
With the advent of "Double 11" this year, the enthusiasm of merchants and consumers continues to rise.
At the same time, "Double 11" is also a big test of social governance. The quality of goods, the integrity of merchants, the speed of logistics, and the supervision of law enforcement agencies have all received widespread attention from the society.
Before the "Double 11" this year, in order to create a good shopping legal environment, reporters from the "Rules of Law Daily" conducted investigations and interviews on hot social topics such as SMS call promotion, discount rules, live delivery and delivery, and launched a series of reports from today. ,stay tuned.
● A number of interviewees said that in the past two years, it feels that more and more e-commerce companies have sent short messages to inform stores of new information, discounts, and other information. SMS bombing in front of nodes has become the norm.
Some businesses have also begun to use phone calls to promote sales, making consumers unbearable
● For important nodes such as "Double 11", merchants hope to attract users by sending marketing text messages. At the same time, there is a very mature industry chain on the market for SMS group sending services, which provides convenience for merchants, and "clicks and hits it."
Sending a text message in groups is often less than 5 cents
● The government and enterprises use big data, artificial intelligence and other technical means to establish early warning and monitoring, prevention and interception mechanisms to help users avoid the intrusion of spam messages.
At the same time, industry associations should strengthen industry self-discipline, improve the blacklist system, and conduct joint punishments on illegal enterprises and individuals.
□ Our reporter Zhao Li
□ Our newspaper trainee reporter Sun Tianjiao
1258-This is the number of unread text messages on Dai Ying, a resident of Haidian District, Beijing. They are basically marketing text messages from various e-commerce companies.
At the age of 26, Dai Ying started shopping online when she was in college. Online shopping has become a part of her life and has brought a lot of troubles.
Among them, the marketing text messages and phone calls of e-commerce companies, especially the bombing before the "Double 11" and "6.18" nodes, made her unbearable.
"Look, it's almost all business promotion information on shopping platforms." On November 1, facing a reporter from the Rule of Law Daily who came to interview, she picked up her mobile phone and opened the text message interface and said, "The mobile phone is going to explode, really It's so annoying."
Many online shopping enthusiasts are also experiencing Dai Ying's experience.
A number of interviewees said that in the past two years, more and more e-commerce companies have sent short messages to inform stores of new information, preferential activities and other information. SMS bombing before nodes has become the norm.
Experts interviewed by reporters said that marketing through text messages, phone calls, and other methods is not illegal in itself, but if marketing text messages are sent without the user's consent or over-limit or over-range, it may infringe the consumer's right to peace.
Governing the phenomenon of SMS and telemarketing requires not only the improvement of the top-level design of the governance system and the in-depth promotion of comprehensive governance in accordance with the law, but also the self-regulation and cooperation of e-commerce platforms, telecommunications companies, and short message service companies.
SMS call bombing
Unsubscribe will still be harassed
"When I received this kind of text messages before, I would click to read them, and then delete them. Later, there were more and more of these kinds of text messages, and I couldn't delete them. Especially in the shopping festival, e-commerce companies sent them one by one. Some even sent several in a row.” Dai Ying said, before the pre-sale of the Double 11 e-commerce platform this year, her mobile phone rang for a day and kept popping up the text message window during the video meeting. Especially affect the mood.
The reporter looked at the text messages on Dai Ying’s mobile phone and found that the content was similar: first indicate which merchant it is, and then either say that you are going to have a new product recently and you are welcome to buy it, or introduce any recent full reduction activities, and directly attach the store link. .
"If I really want to buy this item, I don't need a reminder from the merchant to buy it. If I don't want to buy it, no matter how many text messages I send, I won't be tempted. It will only reduce my good impression of this store." Dai Ying" Tucao" said.
Tian Qiao, a resident of Chaoyang District, Beijing, also feels the same.
Tianqiao noticed that most of the promotional text messages sent to her came from e-commerce companies that she had previously registered for membership or made purchases, even if she had only applied for a free trial sample.
What made her particularly dissatisfied was that she had made several online purchases for her parents, and as a result, she often received promotional text messages on their parents' mobile phones.
"My parents are older, and I usually use fewer text messages. I feel very annoyed when I receive too many spam messages. They have complained to me many times." Tianqiao said.
To this end, Tianqiao paid special attention to the issue of unsubscription of short messages. She found that these short messages basically still have a way to unsubscribe, that is, replying to letters such as "N" or "TD".
But in fact, unsubscribing does not work every time. "I was particularly impressed. In a few stores, after I replied to unsubscribe, I still received the text messages from them. Not only did it take in the SMS fee, but it didn't work." .
According to the official information of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, in recent years, complaints about marketing spam during the "Double 11" promotion period have shown a concentrated outbreak. E-commerce platform related complaints accounted for as much as 90%, and a large amount of related consumer finance spam has been derived Information complaints.
In particular, the platform "default" registered users agree to send promotional information directly, and platform merchants use platform rules loopholes to send marketing SMS and other issues are more prominent, which obviously infringes on consumer rights.
Faced with endless marketing text messages, netizens ridiculed: "We conservatively estimate that there are hundreds of promotional text messages received today." "Is "Double 11" also "involved"? Today, I was bombarded by text messages and received a call at the same time. ...
Ms. Tang from Tianjin runs an online shop. She told reporters that there is a charge for group texting, and the cost is not low. Small-scale personal shops are generally not willing to spend money to send text messages and make phone calls. They are usually relatively large. Brand flagship stores are willing to spend the money.
A number of interviewees also confirmed their claims: The text messages and calls received are generally sent by relatively big-name cosmetics, skin care products and other businesses.
The text message keeps coming back
Infringement of consumers' right to peace
During the interview, many consumers complained to reporters: The text message bombardment is nothing more. Now some businesses have begun to use phone calls to promote sales and direct point-to-point contact. Such harassment is a headache.
On October 28, Tianqiao received a call from a skincare flagship store. On the phone, a magnetic male shopping guide enthusiastically thanked Tianqiao for his support of the brand, and then introduced the brand’s "Double 11" Preferential activities and hot-selling products, "look forward to your visit".
This is the third marketing call Tianqiao recently received.
These 3 calls came from 3 different skin care products stores. After being connected, they were all young men with magnetic voices, and their marketing skills were similar.
From text messages to phone calls, Tianqiao felt very helpless: "At first glance, it was an unfamiliar number. I thought it was a courier or other important call, but the call turned out to be a marketing call of the XX brand. The call cannot be unsubscribed or unsubscribed like a text message. Ignore it, it's really annoying!"
In fact, at every promotion node, excessive text messages and telephone marketing on e-commerce platforms and some merchants have become a major pain point for consumers.
According to the "June 18" Consumer Rights Protection Public Opinion Analysis Report of the China Consumers Association in 2021, during the 20-day public opinion monitoring period from June 1 to June 20, a total of nearly 65,000 pieces of negative information related to advertisements and short messages were collected. .
According to the report, a wide variety of low-cost SMS bombing has low technical content and high frequency of harassment.
In fact, even if this short-sighted behavior of low-cost production of "information junkyard" has occasional benefits, its "monetization" ability is quite limited, more annoying, annoying, and will eventually be abandoned.
Ren Chao, a professor at the School of Economics and Law at East China University of Political Science and Law, believes that SMS and telephone marketing, as a carrier of commercial advertising, have no "original sin" in themselves.
The development of marketing text messages to the point where everyone is boring is mainly because the sending behavior is not based on the knowledge and consent of consumers.
Consumers are often very passive compared to platforms and merchants.
Attorney Zhang Tao, a partner of Beijing Deheng Law Firm, told reporters that marketing through SMS, phone calls, etc. is not illegal in itself, but if marketing SMS is sent without the user’s consent or exceeding the limit or scope, it is an illegal act and infringes on consumption. Right to peace.
Zhang Tao said that the right to tranquility is stipulated and protected in the Civil Code as an important civil right. Unless otherwise provided by law or the right holder expressly agrees, no organization or individual may use phone calls, text messages, instant messaging tools, or e-mails. Etc., to invade the peace of other people’s private lives.
"Such behavior of using consumers' personal information for excessive marketing may also infringe on the rights and privacy of consumers' personal information."
The mass hair industry chain is mature
Merchants can buy in bulk
"I have received countless text messages from your home, why call? You have caused harassment, know?!" Recently, after receiving a sales call, Tianqiao became unbearable and became angry.
On the other end of the phone, she froze for a moment, saying that she was sorry that she had brought her a bad consumer experience, and the specific situation would be fed back to the store.
Tianqiao reported this situation to the brand's flagship store, and the customer service said it was a member service content.
Regarding the question of "whether the consumer's consent was obtained", the customer service said that he was not clear and would report this issue to the commissioner.
The reporter inquired about 10 online stores, including the flagship store of the brand, and found that the conditions for joining the conference all require consumers to authorize them to obtain and use user mobile phone numbers and other information.
"Membership Authorization Agreement", "Membership Rules and Privacy Agreement" and other documents often have such expressions: "You authorize this platform to store and provide the information you submit to the store for use, and you agree that the store will send you emails, text messages, phone calls or Exclusive customer service information" "You know and agree that the merchant/brand will send you the latest news of the brand and store through SMS, exclusive customer service and other channels".
It is worth mentioning that the above-mentioned files often exist in the form of hyperlinks, which require the user to actively click to view them, and whether the user views them does not affect the authorization confirmation.
"At the time, I didn't even notice that there was this agreement." Several interviewees said.
On November 1, the reporter called an e-commerce platform and reported to it as a consumer that it had received a large number of marketing text messages and calls recently, hoping that the platform could manage it.
Its human customer service said that the situation is known and the platform also opposes excessive marketing behavior and will truthfully record it.
As for the question of "Is there any punishment for violations", he said "I don't know" and "There are no relevant regulations for the time being."
Zhang Tao believes that in the relevant privacy agreements for member registration, merchants and platforms will "know and agree" to merchants to send store marketing information through SMS and other channels as a precondition for users to open membership and enjoy services, and this condition is You can’t skip, and you can’t choose "No". Doing so seems to be "legal", but in fact it harms the legitimate rights and interests of consumers, and it is an act of scoring the law.
Regarding the question of who sent so many harassing text messages, the reporter found that there are many online shops that provide bulk text messaging services for e-commerce, and the cost of bulk purchase is not high.
Reporters input keywords such as "bulk text messages" and "activity text messages" on search engines and shopping platforms, and can easily find a number of relevant online stores. The prominent locations of the stores indicate slogans such as "bulk text messages for marketing during shopping festival".
The reporter clicked on the official website of a communications company known as an "expert in the field of SMS marketing". It said "Double 11 preparation activities, pre-sale low-priced inventory ~ SMS, MMS, 400 calls, and empty number detection all low prices" "Your good product Don’t promote or advertise, do you use it yourself?” Wait for advertising.
According to the WeChat account provided by the website, the reporter added his account manager.
According to the account manager, the SMS package provided by the company has a minimum charge of 10,000. "Double 11" has a discount. The basic package with the original price of 550 yuan / 10,000 is now only sold at 450 yuan. "There is no time limit for this text message. You can recharge You can use it slowly in the future until you run out."
An online shop that provides bulk text messaging services, data shows that it has been operating for 9 years.
According to the customer service, their business is roughly divided into notification gateways and advertising gateways. The notification gateway does not carry any promotional vocabulary, such as notification delivery, delivery reminder, etc.; the advertising gateway sends industry promotional information.
Advertising and marketing SMS group sending starts at 50 yuan/1,000 pieces, and 50 pieces can be given away after 5 points of praise.
"Super high quality, super fast speed, support for the three networks, we will open a separate account for you within 3 minutes after the payment is made. You can log in to the platform and send it by yourself. The operation is very simple (there are detailed information in our platform. Screenshot tutorial). Ensure stable and timely arrival! Support timing and support reply!" The text of the customer service is full of enthusiasm.
Yao Zhiwei, a professor at the Law School of Guangdong University of Finance and Economics, said that for e-commerce, “Double 11” and other big promotion activities are the most important nodes of the year. They hope to attract users by sending marketing text messages, especially users who have consumed before. Retrieval, and at the same time, there is a very mature industry chain on the market for SMS group sending services, which provides convenience for merchants.
Less penalties and little deterrence
Governance still requires multi-party collaboration
On October 25th, focusing on the people’s strong complaints about marketing SMS nuisance, the Information and Communication Administration of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology held an administrative guidance meeting to emphasize that major e-commerce platforms must face up to existing problems and assume the main responsibility of platform ecological governance , Strictly abide by the E-Commerce Law, the Civil Code, the "Administrative Regulations on Communication and Short Message Services" and other relevant regulations, earnestly fulfill the promise of operating telecommunications business in accordance with the law, strengthen self-discipline and self-management, and effectively protect consumers' right to peace.
This is not the first time an official has spoken out about the issue of marketing text messages.
During the "June 18" promotion this year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued a message, proposing to standardize the e-commerce platform "June 18" SMS marketing behavior and curb the spread of spam SMS as soon as possible.
In fact, both the Civil Code and the "Administrative Regulations on Communication Short Message Services" explicitly prohibit sending commercial marketing short messages without authorization.
According to the provisions of the Advertising Law of our country, if an advertisement is sent to the party through electronic information without the consent or request of the party concerned, the relevant department shall order it to stop the illegal act and impose a fine of not less than 5,000 yuan but not more than 30,000 yuan.
Then, under the dual pressure of official attention and legal regulations, why does the e-commerce “bombing” of consumers continue to be banned repeatedly?
In the view of Zheng Ning, director of the Law Department of the School of Cultural Industry Management at Communication University of China, the illegal acts of SMS marketing are concealed and difficult to investigate.
Some platforms change their numbers at will, making spam messages more concealed and increasing the difficulty of supervision and traceability.
At the same time, the supervision technology and governance level also need to be improved. To govern SMS marketing, administrative law enforcement alone will not work, and the government, enterprises, telecom operators, citizens, and industry associations need to form a joint force.
"Behind the pervasiveness of marketing text messages are mostly the interests of the sender. In the era of big data, browsing is "leave a trace". It is no longer difficult to draw user portraits for accurate push. The marketing text messages of the wide network can be used as an auxiliary means to reach the limit. There may be many user groups." Ren Chao said that for merchants, SMS promotion is a highly accurate and low-cost marketing method, so many merchants are not tired of it.
Ren Chao said that although unauthorized publishing of marketing text messages has become a common phenomenon, few companies and merchants have been punished for this, and a fine of up to 30,000 yuan is not a deterrent in the face of considerable profit expectations.
In Zhang Tao's view, managing marketing SMS is a systematic project, which is difficult to accomplish overnight.
There are many reasons for the excessive telecommunications marketing repeated prohibition. For example, merchants use the loopholes in the platform rules to play the legal edge, the time cost of users' rights protection is extremely mismatched with the expected effect, and the supervision methods and supervision methods need to be further improved.
Yao Zhiwei suggested that the competent authorities need to increase penalties for illegal collection, excessive collection and use of consumer information.
At the same time, both e-commerce platforms and telecommunications companies should be managed from the source.
“Merchants’ group messaging is based on user information obtained by e-commerce platforms, while group distribution is done through telecommunications companies. E-commerce platforms can use virtual number technology to explore ways to prevent stores from obtaining consumers’ real numbers and protect users’ personal information. Of course, due to the relatively long link of online transactions and involving multiple entities such as stores and express delivery, it is difficult to realize this model. At the same time, telecommunications companies should also make full use of technical means to detect high-frequency calls and text messages. It can be intercepted if necessary." Yao Zhiwei said.
Zheng Ning suggested that the government and enterprises use big data, artificial intelligence and other technical means to establish early warning monitoring, prevention and interception mechanisms to help users avoid the intrusion of spam messages.
At the same time, industry associations should strengthen industry self-discipline, improve the blacklist system, and conduct joint punishments on illegal enterprises and individuals.
"To manage the mess of SMS and telephone marketing, it is necessary to improve the top-level design of the governance system, and to promote comprehensive governance and source governance in accordance with the law. At the same time, give full play to the role of credit management and enhance the deterrent effect of supervision. Whether it is the platform or the business activities of the business, it should be On the premise of protecting the legitimate rights and interests of consumers, to strictly abide by laws and regulations, not to cross the bottom line of the law, and no bottom line intrusion will only push consumers farther and farther." Zhang Tao said.
(Dai Ying and Tian Qiao are pseudonyms in the text)