Fabricating false scenes and characters, and marketing products without a bottom line have always been a focus of rectifying the chaos on the Internet. In order to pursue "tremendous traffic", some anchors have created tragic characters, gained sympathy, and pursued attention wit

Fabricating false scenes and characters and marketing products without a bottom line has always been a focus of rectifying the chaos on the Internet. In order to pursue "tremendous traffic", some anchors create tragic characters to win sympathy and pursue attention without a bottom line. They also touch legal red line.

"Living with a small effort"

Fabricated life experience, fictional facts

Internet celebrity "Xiao Xiao" with millions of fans, her traffic password is selling poorly.

In April this year, a blogger named "Xiao Xiao's Hardworking Life" began to publish videos on a certain platform. Through her narration, people learned that the girl's name was Xiao Xiao, she was 18 years old, and she had a tragic life experience. Xiaoxiao in the

video has a sad expression, with her adoptive mother suffering from mental illness standing behind her. She calls netizens uncles, aunts, grandparents, and herself as "your girl", giving people a kind and simple feeling. Since July this year, Xiaoxiao has also started live streaming.

html On September 4, "Xiao Xiao" started broadcasting on time at 7 p.m. as usual, and the number of people watching the live broadcast online once reached more than 4,000 people. Just when she was promoting a cold skin product, a dog barked suddenly outside the window, and the live broadcast ended without warning. At this time, outside the screen, the police from Shenbei New District, Shenyang City, Liaoning Province appeared in front of Xiao Xiao.

Why did the police find Xiaoxiao? This starts with the video she posted.

In July this year, the police in Shenbei New District, Shenyang City, paid attention to Xiaoxiao’s videos and live broadcasts while patrolling the Internet. According to the police investigation, Xiaoxiao opened a video account in April this year. The main content was about how she was abandoned by her biological parents and was abandoned. The adoptive mother and grandmother adopted her. The grandmother died of illness and the sister died of a fire. The adoptive mother could not bear the blow of schizophrenia. The adoptive father took away the fire compensation from the sister and refused to support himself and the adoptive mother. As of July, the small account had accumulated more than 700,000 fans, and then she started live broadcasting.

Xiaoxiao’s rapid rise in popularity is inseparable from the family conflicts she shows in live broadcasts, such as pursuing support payments from her adoptive father and treating her adoptive mother.

When the live broadcast room gathered more fans, Xiaoxiao began to sell goods, and the items sold were also related to the personal experiences she described.

Wei Guoliang, deputy captain of the Internet Security Brigade of Shenyang Public Security Bureau Shenbei New District Branch: For example, she said that her father took away more than 1 million yuan in compensation and went out to do business. This business was not done well, and We lost money, and now we have a lot of goods backlogged in the warehouse that cannot be sold. In order to get the money back, she turned the goods into money to treat her mother's illness, and made up a scenario like this. The kind-hearted uncle and aunt fans told me what kind of product it was, and she posted a link. Everyone, out of sympathy for Xiao Xiao, placed an order to buy this product.

博sympathy

Profited more than 50,000 yuan in two months through live streaming

Xiaoxiao made a total profit of more than 50,000 yuan in seven and eight months through live streaming. There are no obvious problems in the quality, price and publicity of the products in the live broadcast room. But in these live videos, the police found some abnormal situations.

The police found that Xiao Xiaohui and his adoptive father were arguing fiercely in front of the camera. When Xiao Xiao and others were on the mic or live broadcast to bring goods, the original fierce argument would stop immediately.

What really exposed her flaw was her experience of calling the police. Xiao Xiao described in a live broadcast that because her mother suffered from mental illness, she would use a rope to tie herself to her mother when working on the construction site. Someone with ulterior motives cut the rope, causing her mother to run out and have a car accident. .

Feng Mian, deputy director of the Daoyi Police Station of the Shenbei New District Branch of the Shenyang Municipal Public Security Bureau: She made up the story that when she was working with her mother, she tied a rope to her mother and was cut by a bad guy. After cutting it, she also called the police. , the case has not been solved, and through the power of the Internet, she called on these fans to actively help her find a solution. It's just a kind of rhythm. These things are obviously against common sense.

In order to avoid platform supervision, Xiaoxiao used "Uncle Hat" to refer to the police and "plus sign" to refer to the hospital.During the live broadcast, the mysterious man who cut the rope also appeared, chatted with Xiaoxiao and admitted his mistake.

When Xiao Xiao was angry with the so-called bad guys, she also did not forget to interact with netizens. Fans supported Xiao Xiao and gave her advice. However, according to police investigations, this warning does not exist. Not only that, Xiaoxiao also made up two other police situations.

According to Article 25, Paragraph 1, of the "Public Security Administration Punishment Law of the People's Republic of China": Anyone who spreads rumors, lies about dangers, epidemics, police situations, or deliberately disrupts public order by other methods shall be detained for not less than five days but not more than ten days. A fine of not more than 500 yuan may be imposed; if the circumstances are relatively minor, the offender shall be detained for not more than five days or fined not more than 500 yuan.

Because Xiao Xiao’s behavior was suspected of lying to the police, on September 4 this year, the police found Xiao Xiao during the live broadcast.

Her biological mother pretended to be an adoptive mother

Live broadcast in a dilapidated house but she was actually renting a house in the city

Based on her small confession, the police learned that she not only made up the three police cases, but also made up her life experience, age, family relationships, etc. plot.

In an abandoned house in Langjiasi Village, Shenbei New District, Shenyang City, the police found Xiaoxiao who was live broadcasting. The adoptive mother who claimed to have been in a car accident, the adoptive father and aunt who had conflicts with Xiaoxiao were all gathered in a car outside the live broadcast venue, waiting for Xiaoxiao to be broadcast soon. It is understood that Xiaoxiao’s real name is Xiao and he is 29 years old. The personal experiences he tells on the video platform are all fictional. The adoptive father, adoptive mother, and aunt who appear in the

video are played by Xiao's parents and aunt in real life. Her mother does not have mental illness. These are plots made up by the editor to attract followers. The so-called "home" of Xiaoxiao is actually a dilapidated house that is waiting for demolition. No one has lived in it for a long time. This place is only part of her character creation.

Feng Mian, deputy director of Daoyi Police Station of Shenyang Municipal Public Security Bureau Shenbei New District Branch: Because she made up a particularly miserable persona of herself, the rental environment is particularly bad. In fact, she rents in a closed community in the city. , so she needs such a scene to create a character.

According to Xiaoxiao’s confession, she fabricated the police information in order to increase authenticity and user stickiness, to prepare for the live broadcast, and thought she had cleverly avoided sensitive information, but she did not realize that her behavior had touched the Legal red line.

The police sentenced Xiaoxiao and three other people who participated in the live broadcast, namely Xiaoxiao’s parents and aunt, to administrative detention for ten days and a fine of 500 yuan.

Gao Yuyang, deputy captain of the Information Monitoring Brigade of the Cyber ​​Security Detachment of Shenyang Public Security Bureau: Ordinary people will like, follow, and even buy gifts out of a sense of justice and compassion without knowing the specific truth. , buy products, etc.

Liu He, Deputy Director of Shenyang Public Security Bureau Shenbei New District Branch: When operating Internet platforms, everyone must improve their legal awareness and operate in accordance with national laws and regulations and the relevant provisions of the platform.

First "sell hard to attract fans", and then live broadcast to bring goods

The purpose of these bloggers selling hard is to sell goods, and they hurt the emotions of consumers who are willing to lend a helping hand. So, if the goods themselves have no quality problems and the prices are comparable, under such circumstances, how to define the behavior of such underselling anchors bringing goods? Can consumers claim compensation?

In the summer of 2021, Ms. Wan, who lives in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, saw an anchor named "One Fight and Forge ahead" live broadcast on the short video platform. The content was to fulfill the wish of a young girl named "Lingling". Lingling had a miserable life experience and was abused by her stepmother. The anchor "Yi Bo Forges Forward" said that in order to help Lingling, he started selling jade in the live broadcast room. Ms.

,000 said that in order to express her love, she placed a total of 19 orders in the live broadcast room, spending a total of more than 5,000 yuan. But by chance, Ms. Wan joined the anchor's fan group and found that the two sides in the video, who were originally opposites, sat together and had a celebration banquet.

Ms. Wan suddenly realized that the videos of rescuing Lingling shown on this account were all fictional plots. This made Ms. Wan feel that her feelings had been deceived. He obviously wanted to help others with good intentions, but he didn't expect that his kindness would become a tool for others to make money.

In September 2022, Ms. Wan took the anchor Yi Yiqianqiang (real name Jiao) and his company to court, arguing that Jiao and his company should publicly issue apology statements in mainstream media or platforms, and should also It was determined that their behavior was fraudulent and they demanded a refund of the purchase price and triple compensation.

During the trial, the defendant argued that the quality of the goods he sold in the live broadcast room was consistent with the selling price, and there was no false advertising during the sales process, so his behavior did not constitute fraud.

But Ms. Wan believed that the premise for her purchase of jade was the host’s foreshadowing during the live broadcast, which deceived her feelings and defrauded her based on her sympathy for Lingling.

The Nanjing Gulou District People's Court held after trial that Ms. Wan did not raise any objection as to whether the goods she purchased had quality problems. Whether the goods themselves had quality problems was not the main criterion for determining whether Jiao constituted fraud.

Pi Yizhi, President of the Quick Adjudication Tribunal of Nanjing Gulou District People's Court: We believe that the defendant Jiao made up human tragedies in the live broadcast room and kidnapped the audience's emotions. He took advantage of the audience's sympathy and love to let the audience shop and consumers shop. To seek profit. He induced consumers to make wrong expressions in both subjective purposes and objective behaviors. In this case, even if there is no quality problem with the goods he sells, the deception he adopts is a marketing method, which still makes the sale constitute fraud.

The court held that the anchor involved in the case, as a seller, fabricated facts to induce purchases, which constituted fraud on consumers, and should return the purchase price and triple compensation in accordance with the provisions of the Consumer Rights Protection Law of the People's Republic of China.

In March 2023, the Nanjing Gulou District People’s Court ruled in the first instance that the defendant Jiao and his affiliated company jointly refunded the plaintiff’s purchase price and paid triple compensation after receiving the goods returned by the plaintiff Ms. Wan. At the same time, the defendant Jiao must also publish an apology statement to the plaintiff Ms. Wan on the short video platform after the judgment takes effect. In July 2023, the court upheld the original verdict in the second instance.

How to standardize and manage

Let "miserable marketing" come to an end

For a period of time, network anchors' mischievous marketing has continued to appear. How to manage it?

In August this year, the Central Cyberspace Administration of China launched a month-long special campaign of "Qingming·Combating False and Vulgar Chaos in the Field of Online Live Broadcasting". One of the key points of the campaign was to induce netizens to buy low-quality products by "pretending to be poor" and "selling miserable products". Counterfeit goods. So, from a legal perspective, how to define the anchor’s behavior of inducing netizens to make purchases by “pretending to be poor” or “selling miserable”?

Liu Xiaochun, Executive Director of the Internet Law Research Center of the University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences: In the past, we said that consumers were defrauded. Usually the false content pointed to the goods or services themselves. If you buy fake and inferior products, we say it constitutes fraud, but now its characteristics When consumers place an order, although the product description may not be fake, why did I place the order? It's because you told a story that I was attracted or moved by your story. At this time, in the decision-making process of consumers, the main consideration is based on the fact that the anchor's sales are poor, and this fact itself is false. , causing substantial false publicity to consumer decision-making, or deceptive behavior. Although it is relatively new in this sense, it can still be put into the scope of fraud.

In the trial of Ms. Wan’s case, the Nanjing Gulou District People’s Court, in the form of judicial adjudication, showed a clear attitude towards false propaganda for profit.

Pi Yizhi, President of the Quick Adjudication Tribunal of Nanjing Gulou District People’s Court: The significance of refereeing is to urge platforms and anchors to strictly restrain their own behavior according to legal standards or standards of moral integrity. Live broadcasting is not extralegal. land.

In addition to post-event punishment, what should we do to prevent it beforehand? In July 2023, the Cyberspace Administration of China issued a notice on strengthening the management of “self-media”. Article 5 states that when "self-media" publishes content that contains fictional plots or drama interpretations, the website platform should require them to prominently mark the fiction or interpretation label. Website platforms are encouraged to mark controversial information with dispute labels and limit the flow of relevant information.

A good system must be strictly implemented in order to be as effective as it should be. Some experts suggest that while relevant authorities are intensifying their crackdowns, online platforms should also fulfill their responsibilities as information content management entities and adopt measures such as dynamic management and real-time inspections of online information.

The video of "Xiao Xiao" selling misery is still spreading

Currently, "Xiao Xiao strives to live" has been blocked by the platform, but reporters found that the person involved, Xiao, has participated in a video called "Xiao Xiao records rural life" since October 4. The account is operated and still posts similar videos, with more than 230,000 fans. The video was not labeled with labels such as "fiction" and "deduction" in accordance with regulations. The reporter has reported this situation to the Shenyang police.

Just before the show was broadcast, reporters found that this account could no longer be found, but there were still videos of "Xiao Xiao" selling out miserably. Such deceptive Internet peddlers overdraw public goodwill, undermine social integrity, and have a bad influence. As for bloggers such as Xiaoxiao, we would also like to advise that only by following the right path can we go a long way.

[Source: CCTV News]

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