editor's note
"Double 11" has just passed, and "Double 12" is coming again. Today's shopping carnival, the live broadcast room is the main battlefield.
Even in normal times, more and more people shop through the live broadcast room, and it has even become the main consumption method for many people.
At the same time, the chaos of live broadcast delivery of goods, and even the "rollover" of live broadcast delivery of top anchors are not uncommon, and consumers' desire to regulate live delivery of goods is also getting louder and louder.
Recently, the reporter conducted an in-depth investigation from the perspectives of "professional anti-counterfeiting people focus on live streaming", "live streaming is close to famous brands", "authenticity of data in the live broadcast room", and launched a series of reports in the Jingwei version of the rule of law, in order to promote the resolution of related problems. stay tuned.
● The new format of webcasting in my country is showing a "blowout" development trend. As of June 2022, the number of webcasting users will reach 716 million.
Problems come with it.
The China Consumers Association released this year's "Double 11" Consumer Rights Protection Public Opinion Analysis Report, showing that live broadcast sales chaos has become one of the focuses of consumer rights protection
● According to regulations, e-commerce platforms should keep more than 3 years of consumption records, which provides great convenience for consumers to protect their rights and collect evidence.
However, from a practical point of view, the e-commerce platform will remove the goods as soon as something goes wrong, making it difficult for consumers to obtain relevant record information, and to a certain extent, it is convenient for counterfeiters to escape punishment
● Strengthen communication among functional departments such as market supervision, commerce, and network information in the process of online live broadcast marketing supervision, implement information sharing, establish a blacklist mechanism for problem anchors and problem platforms, and carry out joint punishment according to law.
Supporting consumers in class action and public interest litigation when necessary
□ Reporter Chen Lei
"As of yesterday (December 6), a total of 1,100 consumers who bought mobile phones in the live broadcast room of the anchor 'Crazy Little Yang' contacted us through various channels, hoping to help them defend their rights, and more than 350 consumers The information has been confirmed." On December 7, Wang Hai, a well-known professional counterfeiter, told the "Rule of Law Daily" reporter on the phone.
Not long ago, Wang Hai reported the false propaganda of "Crazy Little Brother Yang" live broadcast with goods, which aroused widespread concern in the society and continued to ferment.
Wang Hai said that he also reported that "Crazy Little Brother Yang" used false test reports to deceive the public, and two testing agencies were suspected of false certification or suspected of issuing false or false reports.
It’s not just Wang Hai. In recent years, with the “blowout” development of the online live broadcast industry, live broadcast practitioners, including head anchors or internet celebrities, have been involved in false propaganda, selling fake products, and price gouging. People have turned their attention to the anti-counterfeiting anchors and Internet celebrities who live broadcast and bring goods.
A number of experts interviewed by the reporter believed that professional anti-counterfeiters who really crack down on counterfeiting according to the law belong to the category of consumers, and their existence can set an example for ordinary consumers to use legal weapons to claim compensation from counterfeit manufacturers and sellers, which will help promote live broadcasting The new business format of bringing goods is developed in a standardized manner.
Experts believe that the key to standardizing live broadcast delivery lies in the live broadcast platform, which should strictly implement the provisions of the e-commerce law, especially the obligation to perform the records stipulated by the law, save the product and service information and transaction information released on the platform, and ensure the integrity of the information Security, confidentiality, and availability for no less than 3 years, so that the behavior of live streaming can be traced for at least 3 years, which is convenient for consumer rights protection and supervision by regulatory authorities.
Report false advertising of online sales products
Directly pointing out the issuance of false inspection reports
On November 12, Wang Hai released news that the wall breaker and meat grinder produced by an electrical appliance company sold by the well-known anchor "Crazy Little Yang" had a problem with false power ratings.
Wang Hai's team discovered through dismantling the machine that the meat grinder sold in the live broadcast room was marked with a power of 300W, but the actual power was 120W;
A few days later, the relevant electrical company issued a statement saying that the two products in question were in line with national standards and there was no false propaganda.
Soon, "Crazy Little Brother Yang" forwarded this statement and said: "I just want to be myself..."
In this regard, Wang Hai believes that the statement of the electrical appliance company did not provide a test report or test report for the power of the whole machine at 300W, which is "pure deception".
On November 17, "Crazy Little Brother Yang" announced the inspection report issued by a product quality supervision and inspection agency in Hefei City, Anhui Province on the same day, and the conclusion showed that "the inspection items (input power and current) are qualified."
In Wang Hai's opinion: "After we broke the news that the fakes were sold, 'Crazy Little Brother Yang' sent the product for inspection on November 15th, and the inspection report was issued on November 17th, which means that 'Crazy Little Brother Yang' was broadcasting live. Did not carefully select the product or did not participate in the product selection before bringing the goods."
Both of the above products are currently off the shelves.
Wang Hai said that the product quality supervision and inspection agency has measured that the rated input power of the product involved in the inspection is 247.8W, which is 300W lower than the average input power, and is not within the qualified range of rated input power.
Therefore, the product quality supervision and inspection agency judged that the product involved in the inspection was "qualified" was a wrong conclusion and was suspected of issuing a false inspection report.
"We also reported the request to revoke the CCC certification of the products involved in the case. If the certification agency is suspected of issuing false certification conclusions, or the certification conclusions issued are seriously inaccurate, the approval documents should be revoked and announced." Wang Hai said.
In reality, the problem of illegal testing by electronic and electrical inspection and testing institutions deserves attention.
The Shenzhen Municipal Market Supervision Bureau of Guangdong Province has selected electronic and electrical inspection and testing institutions as a key area of random inspection this year. Among the 57 institutions that have been randomly inspected, 40 have violated laws and regulations, of which 13 have been investigated, and 27 have been ordered to rectify within a time limit.
As a counterfeiter, Wang Hai said that his main purpose of reporting is to help consumers defend their rights.
After reporting "Crazy Little Brother Yang", he recently reported the false promotion of a famous brand of jackets.
Prior to this, Wang Hai had repeatedly reported the problem of selling fakes by live streaming anchors.
For example, in 2020, he publicly reported that a live broadcast anchor on a certain platform sold fake bird's nest, and the test report he presented showed that the instant bird's nest product sold was sugar water.
In December of the same year, the Market Supervision Bureau of Baiyun District, Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province issued an administrative penalty of ordering the company where the anchor works to stop illegal activities and a fine of 900,000 yuan.
The anchor team refunded more than 60 million yuan to consumers in total.
There are many chaos in the new format of live streaming with goods
Fight fake people to "war" Internet celebrity anchor
Wang Hai is not the only professional anti-counterfeiter who turned his attention to live broadcasting. Yan Zhen (pseudonym) from Henan also focused on live broadcasting.
Some time ago, Yan Zhen filed a lawsuit for compensation after placing an order for multiple pieces of tea cakes in the live broadcast room of an Internet celebrity anchor. He found out that the production license of this tea cake, which was claimed to be produced in Yunnan, did not match the manufacturer.
At the trial stage, the Internet celebrity anchor argued that the production license marked on the tea cake was a mistake made by the printing company when printing the wrapping paper.
Yan Zhen told the reporter that after mediation by the judge, the case was closed with a settlement.
Mr. Lin, a professional anti-counterfeiting person from Tianjin, has had many experiences in cracking down on counterfeit live broadcasts and bringing goods to anchors. "They are all anchors with two to three million fans."
In his view, it is easier to crack down on counterfeit live broadcasts and bring online celebrity anchors. "Many of them have poor legal awareness. In order to make money, they don't consider consumers' rights at all."
Behind this is the "blowout" development trend of my country's new online live broadcast business.
According to the "Statistical Report on China's Internet Development Status" released by the China Internet Network Information Center in August this year, as of June 2022, the number of Internet users in my country will be 1.051 billion, of which the number of live webcast users will reach 716 million.
Problems come with it.
The China Consumers Association recently released an analysis report on this year’s “Double 11” consumer rights protection public opinion, showing that the chaos of live broadcast sales has become one of the focuses of consumer rights protection.
On a third-party complaint platform, the number of complaints with the keyword "live broadcast" exceeded 70,000 in 2021, and problems such as product quality, false publicity, and price misleading were the most prominent.
According to Wang Hai's observation, the field of live streaming has been full of chaos. Fake emeralds, jade, fake crystals, fake lottery draws, price gouging, false publicity, etc. have emerged one after another, and a large number of consumers' rights have been damaged.
Because of this, many professional anti-counterfeiters have turned to the new business of live streaming to fight counterfeiting.
They believe that the essence of live streaming is TV shopping, and the problem of counterfeiting and shoddy products is refurbished through the live broadcast room.
Wang Hai believes that one of the key reasons for the numerous problems with live streaming is that the live broadcast e-commerce platform has not assumed corresponding responsibilities in accordance with Article 31 of the E-Commerce Law.
He explained that from a technical point of view, it is not difficult to crack down on counterfeiting in the field of live streaming, because it is easier to crack down on counterfeiting and obtain evidence through screen recording.
In addition, according to regulations, e-commerce platforms should keep more than 3 years of consumption records, which provides great convenience for consumers to protect their rights and collect evidence.
However, from a practical point of view, the e-commerce platform will remove the goods as soon as something goes wrong, making it difficult for consumers to obtain relevant record information, and to a certain extent, it is convenient for counterfeiters to escape punishment.
"If the e-commerce platform keeps the live delivery video for 3 years in accordance with the law, once a problem is found, the platform will directly notify consumers to protect their rights. Will the anchor dare to sell fake products on the platform?" Wang Hai asked rhetorically.
"Besides, as a new online marketing model, live streaming is based on an imperfect system of laws and regulations, and the responsibilities between platforms, merchants, and anchors are not clear and clear. The nature of live e-commerce , Positioning is still controversial in theory and practice, and it is also the cause of frequent problems in the field of live streaming.” said Cheng Ke, deputy director of the Cultural Law Research Center of the School of Cultural Industry Management, Communication University of China.
According to Chen Yinjiang, deputy secretary-general of the Consumer Rights Protection Law Research Institute of the China Law Society, the new business format of live streaming has the characteristics of virtuality, concealment, and technicality. It is difficult to regulate by traditional laws and regulations, and new laws and regulations have been introduced. It also has a certain lag, coupled with limited administrative supervision resources, inadequate management responsibilities of the webcast platform, and irregular commercial marketing behaviors, etc., so a series of problems have arisen.
Build a blacklist and implement joint punishment
Support for Class Action Public Interest Litigation
In the opinion of Mr. Lin, a professional anti-counterfeiting professional, as head anchors or Internet celebrities with a large number of fans, they have a wide range of radiation when they are engaged in live streaming. Once there is a problem with the product, the impact on consumers will be even greater. Serious, so you should take more corresponding responsibilities for the goods you bring, strictly select the products, and carefully test them.
"The anti-counterfeiting people will target the top anchors or Internet celebrities in the anti-counterfeiting, which can promote the standardized development of the new business model of live streaming to a certain extent. The anti-counterfeiting claim makes the illegal cost of the merchant greater than the illegal profit, and also sets an example for consumers, so that consumption Those who do not have the motivation to claim compensation from illegal merchants according to the law, so that counterfeit and shoddy products have nowhere to hide.” Yan Zhen believes.
my country's Food Safety Law and Consumer Protection Law have set up a punitive compensation system.
In Wang Hai's view, the introduction of the punitive compensation system is due to the fact that there are too many illegal businesses and limited administrative supervision resources; if you want to curb and crack down on the manufacture and sale of counterfeit goods, it is far from enough to rely solely on government functional departments. It needs to rely on social co-governance, and counterfeiters are like monitoring electronic police on traffic lights, making it inevitable that counterfeit production and sales will be punished.
The interviewees generally believed that to promote the healthy development of the new business format of live streaming, an important issue at present is to implement the current laws and relevant policies and regulations.
Chen Yinjiang said that the profit-making behavior of online live broadcasting is essentially e-commerce business behavior, and the more popular methods include live broadcasting with goods and rewards.
It’s just that merchants have evolved from the on-site sales model of placing products in physical stores for consumers to choose, to the e-commerce sales model of introducing and recommending products through text and pictures on the Internet, and now recommending products through live webcasts in real-time and interactive ways. Live marketing model.
"Most of the live streaming platforms have double income of commissions and rewards for bringing goods, of which rewards account for a relatively high proportion. Although online live broadcast marketing has the characteristics of entertainment, intuition, interaction and convenience, it is still an e-commerce operation behavior, and it also requires Comply with laws and regulations related to e-commerce operations, actively maintain market order, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers." Chen Yinjiang said.
In recent years, in addition to promulgating a series of laws such as the Civil Code and the E-commerce Law by the legislature, the national level has also issued a series of departmental regulations and policy documents for live streaming.
For example, in November 2020, the State Administration for Market Regulation issued the "Guiding Opinions on Strengthening the Supervision of Online Live Streaming Activities"; the State Internet Information Office and relevant departments issued the "Network Live Marketing Management Measures ( Trial Implementation), "Opinions on Further Regulating the Profit-Profit Behavior of Online Live Streaming and Promoting the Healthy Development of the Industry", etc.
In Wang Hai's view, the live broadcast platform must abide by the provisions of the e-commerce law, such as requiring the platform to strictly record and save the product and service information and transaction information published on the platform, and ensure the integrity, confidentiality, and availability of the information not less than 3 years; for example, requiring the live streamer or his company to compensate in advance.
Cheng Ke believes that the standardization of live broadcast delivery still needs to improve the relevant system: it is necessary to clarify the scope of responsibility of each participant in the online live marketing process, distinguish different types of live marketing platforms, and determine whether the platform participates in operations, commissions, and platform control. Reasonably set up platform responsibilities; coordinate the specific application of existing laws and regulations such as the Civil Code, Consumer Protection Law, and E-commerce Law in the field of webcast marketing; strengthen market supervision, business, network information and other functional departments in webcast marketing. Communication in the supervision process, implement information sharing, establish a blacklist mechanism for problem anchors and problem platforms, and carry out joint punishment in accordance with the law.
Chen Yinjiang suggested that the convenience of accepting consumer complaints should be continuously improved, and consumers should be supported to file collective lawsuits when necessary, and public interest litigation should be filed against behaviors that harm the legitimate rights and interests of unspecified consumers, so as to give full play to consumers' supervision of the new format of live broadcast delivery. effect.
"It is indeed difficult for the regulatory authorities to discover and promptly investigate and deal with the problem of live broadcasting of goods. On the contrary, it is easier for thousands of consumers to find out during the consumption process, including professional counterfeiters who complain to the regulatory authorities. It is also a kind of support for the regulatory department, which should investigate and punish, purify and regulate the new business of live broadcasting with goods." Chen Yinjiang said.
(Source: Rule of Law Daily)