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"Planting grass" (an Internet buzzword that refers to promoting a good product to entice people to buy) has become a new consumption habit, and false "grass planting" and damage to consumer rights and interests occur from time to time. Recently, the "Internet Advertising Management Measures" was officially implemented, including "planting grass" in advertising supervision, but there are still difficulties in the implementation of law enforcement supervision and other aspects. The lawyer suggested that the implementation of the new regulations cannot only rely on the consciousness of bloggers, and the platform should also bear the responsibility of logo supervision and content review.

Nowadays, it is no longer uncommon for Internet celebrities, shop explorers, and Weibo big Vs to "plant grass" on online platforms. Some people, relying on their high popularity, in the name of sharing daily life and visiting stores, do "advertising". Due to the mixed nature of profit and business, incidents of false "planting" and harming consumer rights and interests occur from time to time.

The "grass planting" economy is rising strongly, how to regulate the false "grass planting" mixed in?

From May 5, the new version of the Measures for the Administration of Internet Advertising was officially implemented. In response to the large number of "expert shop visits", "Internet celebrity grass" short videos, evaluation notes, etc. on major social media platforms, the new regulations refine advertising supervision models such as "soft text advertisements" and videos with links, and stipulate that Internet advertisements should be recognizable and enable consumers to identify them as advertisements. Industry insiders pointed out that "planting grass" is included in advertising supervision, but there are still difficulties in implementation level.

"Planting grass" has become a new consumption habit of Generation Z

Sun Yu, a post-90s girl, is a loyal fan of an online social platform, keen to browse the daily sharing of various bloggers, and often places orders when encountering small things that are exciting.

"It's hard not to get the promotional copy and nice photos on the page." Sun Yu told reporters that for this "planting grass" marketing method, she believes that "it is no longer a new thing, everyone has acquiesced, used to and even a little dependent."

"Planting grass", from the initial beauty forum, extended to major online social platforms, and the variety of goods has gradually expanded to food, daily use and other fields. Compared with traditional "advertising", this form of "pro-test" is more affinity and authenticity, and is loved by more and more young people.

In the third-party data research agency released the "Grass Generation · In the post-95 "fashion consumption report", the post-95 generation is called the backbone of "planted grass". In May 2021, CITIC Securities research report showed that 5.64% of Generation Z (the generation born between 3~1995) were affected by the recommendation of "planting grass" when shopping, and the huge audience and high acceptance made "planting grass" quickly become the mainstream of marketing models.

Logging in to the online social platform, the reporter noticed that the ways of "planting grass" emerge one after another, some directly hang out links, some are hidden in videos, pictures and texts in the form of trademarks, and some seem to be consumption evaluations but are actually marketing promotions. Under these "planting grass" pages, fans interact frequently, and the volume of transactions displayed is amazing.

The network "planting grass" is diversified and hidden

Liu Yu (pseudonym), a beauty blogger on a platform, told reporters that the "planting grass" advertisements he undertook were divided into two types, one was through the official platform, which required to pay a 10% handling fee, and the other was a private transaction with the merchant, but if it was discovered, it was easy to limit the flow and deduct points. He said frankly: "The platform does not allow sensitive words such as product efficacy to appear in the soft text of bloggers, but the control and constraint of merchants is still very lacking." ”

"Merchants require bloggers to describe products in the form of sharing experiences, and the traces of 'advertising' are very small, and even if consumers use it poorly, it is difficult to hold them accountable." Liu Yu said.

A netizen was "planted" in the WeChat circle of friends, and then found that he "stepped on the pit". Through the WeChat circle of "acquaintances", the netizen purchased a collagen powder, and after arriving at the goods, he found that its ingredients did not match the description. "Many merchants set their sights on resource people and share them through their daily WeChat moments to achieve the purpose of implicit promotion of goods, and the benefits are very considerable." Liu Yu revealed.

iMedia consulting report shows that 72.4% of consumers said that they were affected by false "grass planting", and in recent years, there have been many cases of false "grass planting" and online marketing penalties. Is "planting grass" on the Internet an "advertisement"? Does the publisher or platform need to bear the corresponding legal responsibility?

Liu Kunbao, a lawyer at Shandong Yuanheng Law Firm, said that according to the Advertising Law, commercial activities in which commodity operators or service providers directly or indirectly promote goods or services through media and other forms are advertisements no matter what form they appear. If there is false publicity or misleading content, consumers also need to bear corresponding legal responsibilities, and consumers can protect their legitimate rights and interests through local market supervision departments and courts.

"At present, online 'grass planting' is diversified and hidden, and it is difficult to accurately determine whether it is advertising in nature by relying on hard laws and regulations, which also brings certain difficulties to law enforcement departments." Liu Kunbao said.

Platforms should strengthen content moderation responsibilities

The Measures for the Administration of Internet Advertising, which came into effect on May 5 this year, have a clear definition of "planting grass" and "advertising". Article 1 clearly stipulates that where goods or services are promoted through knowledge introduction, experience sharing, consumption evaluation, etc., and purchase methods such as shopping links are attached, the advertisement publisher shall conspicuously indicate "advertisement".

According to Chen Chen, director of Baidu's legal research center, if the "advertising" logo is required to be added, it may bring great management pressure. Because advertising and information are often difficult to distinguish, it is difficult to control the scale. Therefore, Article 9 of the New Regulations is strictly limited to the most intuitive "planting grass" advertising method of "additional shopping links", which can be distinguished from the consumption experience and life experience of ordinary consumers, which can be more authentic and recognizable and avoid deceiving consumers.

How exactly should "advertisement" be marked? After the implementation of the new regulations, logging on to some popular online social platforms, the reporter found that there were still many "planting grass" content with additional shopping links that had not yet been marked with the word "advertisement". Some bloggers label their tweets with "sponsorship" or "collaboration" as an alternative to "advertising."

In this regard, Liu Kunbao said that if platforms and bloggers do not comply with relevant regulations, they will not only face administrative penalties from administrative organs, but may also bear legal liabilities such as civil liability and criminal liability. "Relevant provisions such as the Advertising Law and the Measures for the Administration of Internet Advertising clarify the legal consequences that may be faced by illegal acts, and if consumers discover violations or their rights and interests have been infringed, they must have the courage to complain and report to the relevant departments." He said.

The reporter noted that at the end of April this year, before the implementation of the new regulations, the WeChat public platform operation center issued a reminder: official account operators need to strictly review the published content, promote goods or services through various forms, and attach shopping links and other purchase methods, should clearly mark the word "advertising". In early May, some online social platforms launched a special governance project on "false planting of grass", taking violations such as false shop visits and ghostwriting as the key targets of this rectification, and disposed of a number of brands and accounts suspected of illegal marketing.

"The implementation of the new regulations cannot only rely on the consciousness of bloggers, and platforms should also bear the responsibility of logo supervision and content review." Liu Kunbao said.

Zhang Chang (Source: Workers' Daily)

Zhang Chang