■ Editorial

　　If payment traps and other chaos are allowed to spread, the vitality of the micro-short drama industry itself will be harmed.

　　“When I came home from the holidays, I found that my mother was paying more and more for micro-short dramas. In the past six months, she has maintained a payment frequency of 6,000 yuan/month.”

Recently, a media investigation found that the charging of micro-short dramas is seriously chaotic, and there are many problems such as induced payment and automatic renewal traps. Some elderly people even spent 40,000 yuan on this without knowing it.

　　Charging chaos is a typical network problem.

Previously, "traps" such as induced payment and automatic renewal that were once prevalent on various apps created and exploited information asymmetry, thereby achieving overcharges with inductive gimmicks.

　　However, many current micro-short dramas that focus on "fast-paced and refreshing" use exaggerated conflict plots to arouse users' urgency to look forward to the follow-up plot, and then use vague, tempting and stepped payment designs to make users People often think they are just spending a few dollars to watch a few episodes of short videos, but in the end they end up inexplicably signing a very long paid contract.

Its wanton harvesting behavior targeting the elderly needs special attention.

　　The charging routines of micro-short dramas may be common, but for many elderly users who have just become accustomed to watching short videos on their mobile phones, they often cannot accurately identify the tricks behind the payment design, and may not even be able to read the supplementary explanation text below the payment button. , thus repeatedly falling into such payment traps.

　　Compared with products with chaotic charging in the past, micro-short dramas have harvested this type of users even more.

Because the content creation characteristics of micro-short dramas that stimulate emotions determine that the content itself creates an emotional marketing trap.

　　Judging from media reports, most of the currently popular micro-short dramas make full use of the weaknesses of group emotions, amplify conflicts and opposition, and create gaps between the rich and the poor, conflicts between the strong and the weak, etc.

Some micro-short dramas are also packaged as “true stories”, making it easier for some users who lack the ability to identify to fall into their traps.

　　From the perspective of payment logic, micro-short dramas are typical cultural consumer goods.

From the perspective of online consumption, the consumption of this type of cultural products is different from physical products, membership fees, etc. The user completes the entire transaction at the moment of payment.

　　After watching the content, if paying users feel that the content is of poor quality or does not meet expectations, it will be difficult for them to apply for refunds or claims.

In other words, consumers lack corresponding rights protection and claim mechanisms when making payment transactions.

　　Therefore, micro-short dramas are more likely to become one-time deals and traffic transactions that "induce consumption".

On many consumer complaint platforms, users’ complaints about micro-short dramas include no refund channels, false publicity, etc. This is precisely why.

　　Compared with the higher threshold requirements of traditional content payment industries such as film, television, dramas, and publishing, the characteristics of quick charging and quick departure of micro-short dramas, coupled with the lack of charging specifications, industry standards, and the lack of transparent pricing mechanisms and market supervision, make this An industry is experiencing the phenomenon of bad money driving out good money.

　　This also results in high-quality creators being unable to obtain high profits, and low-quality creators using routine users will not be punished for this.

　　As a new form of online audio-visual business, micro-short dramas are currently in a stage of explosive growth.

However, if payment traps and other chaos are allowed to spread, it will not only harm the rights and interests of elderly users, but also inevitably endanger the vitality of the micro-short drama industry itself.

　　In fact, we have already accumulated some experience in dealing with similar charging chaos.

In 2023, the national level jointly rectified the chaos of TV membership matryoshka charging.

In 2022, the Cyberspace Administration of China also issued relevant regulations, requiring a severe crackdown on the problem of induced recharge by apps.

　　Looking specifically at the emerging micro-short drama industry, we can also try to regulate and regulate based on content payment to address the problems that have arisen.

For example, it is required that paid micro-short dramas must be clearly stated to users in advance as paid viewing, and the charging details must be informed. Consumers are not allowed to make secondary bundled payments after paying for them, and they are not allowed to induce other sales items such as membership.

　　These measures can play a protective role in protecting the rights and interests of users. When industry self-regulation cannot be quickly realized in the short term, they can better protect the rights and interests of micro-short drama users such as the elderly.

　　In the long run, all parties including platforms, creators and regulators need to discuss and formulate industry norms and supervision methods as soon as possible on the content quality, charging standards, consumer awareness and other issues of micro-short dramas to avoid harvesting users due to excessive short-sightedness. Ultimately undermining the long-term future of this nascent industry.

(Source: Beijing News)