In the Internet age, the "post-90s" and "post-00s" who are busy with work, have little communication, and survive in an "atomic" way often rely on various online platforms for marriage, love and friendship to find a partner.

Are these "cloud matchmakers" reliable?

Reporter Banyuetan’s in-depth research found that online dating and dating platforms have deep marketing routines, many consumption traps, and great difficulties in safeguarding rights.

Online dating "talking about feelings hurts money"

　　Ms. Zheng, a citizen of Foshan, Guangdong, registered a member on the marriage and love platform "MarryU" in May.

Soon the platform notified her by phone that a boy who liked her wanted to arrange a meeting without charging any fee.

As soon as she arrived at the store, Ms. Zheng was taken into a small room.

"They took turns to create psychological pressure on me, saying that I am old and the conditions are ordinary, and it will be difficult to find a lover if it is too late. I said that I have no money, and they said that many girls pay in installments, a few hundred yuan a month, I found a target within a few months."

　　Ms. Zheng was fooled into a fever and paid a fee of 14,300 yuan.

"In less than a minute, they swiped the POS machine, and then printed the contract for signature, and there was no time to respond."

　　Banyuetan reporter joined a marriage and love refund group of more than 400 people. Members of the group paid more than 80,000 to 90,000 yuan on the marriage and love platform, while others were several thousand yuan. You have to use online loans to pay fees, but in the end, "people and money are empty."

　　On the Heimao Complaint Platform, Banyuetan reporters searched with keywords, and there were more than 4,900 complaints on "Century Jiayuan", more than 1,900 complaints on "Baihe.com", more than 2,300 complaints on "Zhenai.com", and more than 750 complaints on "MarryU". There are more than 1,400 complaints about my good luck.

Complaints focus on false promises, deceptive consumption, guiding consumers to use credit cards or online loans to pay, high fees and difficulty in refunding.

　　A report shows that in 2021, the size of my country's Internet dating and dating market will reach 7.2 billion yuan, the number of Internet dating and dating users will exceed 30 million, and the number of matchmaking-related companies will exceed 20,000.

But a market of this size is a mixed bag, full of pits.

Pit multi-way insurance, difficult to protect rights

　　"Here are women chasing men", "You don't need to add friends to chat directly", "If you want voice, you can use voice, and if you want video, you can make video."

　　After the reporter Banyuetan registered as a man through the "Just Chat" app, he immediately prompted several women to come to chat with him, and his words were ambiguous. When the reporter replied to the message, a recharge page would pop up.

After completing the "daily recharge", multiple unfamiliar accounts will actively request voice and video chat.

Video chat 159 gold/minute, voice chat 79 gold/minute, text message 8 gold/minute.

　　Reporter Banyuetan's investigation found that complaints about "just chat" on multiple complaint platforms all point to "inducing consumption", "friendship fraud" and "false routines".

"This is a bottomless pit. You only have to keep recharging and brushing gifts. Every interaction has to use money to pave the way." A matchmaking practitioner told reporters that "chat to make money" has developed into a gray industry, also known as "chat for children." ".

They have a complete training system and sharing mechanism. The task of "chaters" is to take the initiative to strike up a conversation and induce users to spend money to chat and buy gifts. "Making friends" is actually "paying money".

　　Online platforms have multi-channel insurance for consumption pits, and offline platforms are also difficult to guard against.

"As long as you pay 26,600 yuan, you will be guaranteed to get married within six months." Mr. Yuan, who works in Dongguan, Guangdong, said that under the guidance of Hongniang, he completed the payment by credit card and loan at the offline stores of Century Jiayuan, "I swiped 10,000 yuan. Yuan, they said that the remaining 16,600 yuan would be loaned to me by Jiayuan, and if I don’t introduce a satisfied girl, I don’t need to repay the loan. Later, I found out that they used my ID card to borrow money from the bank.”

　　Reporter Banyuetan reviewed several documents and contracts and found that many of the promises of the matchmaking agency were not included in the contract. If consumers lack legal awareness, fail to read the contract clearly, and fail to retain and collect relevant evidence, it will be very difficult to safeguard their rights afterwards.

It is also difficult to define whether it is an ordinary emotional dispute or an illegal or criminal act if the friend's partner maliciously defrauds and induces consumption in the process of love.

Some consumers can only give up their rights and consider themselves unlucky.

Personal information is almost streaking, and privacy and security frequently step on the red line

　　The value of the dating platform is to provide both parties with authentic and reliable dating information.

In recent years, multiple platforms have been notified by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology for collecting personal information beyond the scope of regulations.

　　Banyuetan reporter got in touch with an agency engaged in app custom development services on the grounds that he wanted to make a dating app in the same city.

The staff of the other party promises that the developed application can be connected to the third-party payment system, and can perform real-name and face recognition authentication.

When the reporter asked if he could view the members' chat records and browsing content, the staff member said, "Of course, the system will hand over to you after you are done. You can see what you want to see." There is no boundary issue about personal information collection. mentioned.

　　A reporter from Banyuetan tested a marriage and love app, showing that the personal information it collects includes name, age, phone, real estate information, vehicle information, static or dynamic facial features, as well as communication records and content, accommodation information, web browsing records, accurate location information, etc.

These detailed information can completely outline the "user portrait", thereby realizing "precision marketing".

　　According to relevant regulations, the processing of personal information should have a clear and reasonable purpose, and adopt a method that has the least impact on personal rights and interests.

Zhang Wei, founding partner and lawyer of Guangdong Xieyan Law Firm, said that excessive collection of personal information by the platform for profit will seriously infringe on the legitimate rights and interests of consumers such as the right to know, the right to fair trade and the right to information security.

　　To rectify chaos, we need self-discipline and other discipline

　　Improper business methods not only infringe on the rights and interests of consumers, but also plunge the marriage and dating platform into a crisis of trust, which ultimately affects the healthy development of the entire industry.

Liu Junhai, a professor at the Law School of Renmin University of China, said: "If the platform cannot be prudent and independent, the regulator must come forward and make good use of the market access, administrative guidance, administrative supervision, and administrative punishment granted by the law. ."

　　In addition to consumers continuing to strengthen their awareness of self-protection, administrative supervision and justice must go hand in hand to eliminate blind spots in supervision, strengthen administrative penalties, increase illegal costs, and reduce rights protection costs.

Liu Junhai suggested that public interest lawsuits be filed against influential dating websites across the country, so that consumers can defend their rights at zero cost.

　　Regarding user information security, Zuo Xiaodong, deputy director of the China Information Security Research Institute, said that relevant companies should protect users' personal information in accordance with laws and regulations, and regulatory authorities should increase law enforcement efforts to prevent platforms from playing "edge balls".

Consumers should improve their awareness of rights protection and evidence preservation, and when personal rights are violated, they should seek help from relevant departments and legal professionals in a timely manner.

　　Hu Zhanhong, head of the Guangzhou Youth Marriage and Love Service Research Center, believes that it is very important to establish a correct view of marriage and love. Looking for a partner is to find a life partner, not to look for a way to improve life.

Only by constantly improving yourself can you more easily meet the "best" life partner.

　　Source: "Half Moon Talk"

　　Ban Yue Tan Reporter: Wang Ruiping | Editor: Su Ya