False and illegal advertisements on online platforms cannot be ignored

Recently, a survey on air conditioner maintenance by the Shanghai Consumer Protection Committee has attracted widespread attention to the chaos in the air conditioner maintenance industry. What is more noteworthy is that most of the "tricky" businesses found are companies with high natural search rankings on some online platforms. This has once again exposed the "hidden rules" of Internet search bidding rankings to the public, and has also made people worry about whether Internet platforms have become a "safe haven" for such dishonest companies.

Bidding rankings add fuel to the flames

It is obvious that the problem can be solved by simply setting up the air conditioner remote control, but when the repairman comes to the door, he "finds" a variety of problems, and the repair fee is as high as hundreds of yuan. The Shanghai Consumer Protection Committee's air conditioner maintenance consumer experience has exposed many "tricks" in the air conditioner maintenance industry, such as fictitious faults, minor repairs, etc., such as falsely claiming that the machine lacks refrigerant, the computer board is damaged, etc., and some even do not hesitate to tamper with the air conditioner, which is shocking. Behind the chaos, more than a dozen online platforms are fueling the flames. The long-standing bidding rankings in the search services of these online platforms have made... Problem companies were able to make profits, causing damage to consumers, and seriously undermined professional norms and honest business operations.

Subsequently, the Shanghai Consumer Protection Committee interviewed the relevant online platforms, and these platforms also made rectifications and provided written feedback within the specified time. However, when the Shanghai Consumer Protection Committee interviewed again, it was found that the rectification effects of these platforms were not ideal. For example, many airconditioning maintenance service providers ranked at the top of the natural search on many platforms are "fakes" and do not have the authorized maintenance qualifications of airconditioning companies. Some do not even have maintenance qualifications, and some company pages do not even have website registration. As for issues such as bidding rankings and paid promotions, these platforms are even more evasive.

The Shanghai Consumer Protection Committee believes that the root cause of the various problems of infringing on the legitimate rights and interests of consumers in home appliance maintenance and other maintenance services is the serious lack of an integrity mechanism. "The Consumer Protection Committee found one and the platform removed it. This is not a good faith mechanism. "Tang Jiansheng, deputy secretary general of the Shanghai Consumer Protection Committee, said that Internet search platforms should truly put integrity into action and establish an integrity mechanism that can constrain businesses to replace the so-called bidding ranking.

Platform responsibility cannot be shirked

Internet platforms have adopted the bidding ranking mechanism for nearly 20 years, and most of the disputes and lawsuits during this period have occurred between platforms and businesses. It really attracted social attention after the "Wei Zexi incident" in 2016 (Wei Zexi, a student at Xidian University, died of delayed treatment due to searching for incorrect promotion information on Baidu). In response, the regulatory authorities promptly issued corresponding management regulations.

At present, there are generally two views in the legal community regarding the behavior of Internet platforms providing paid search services and ranking and promoting service providers. One view is that , which falls within the scope of the Advertising Law. For example, after the "Wei Zexi incident", the State Administration for Industry and Commerce issued the "Interim Measures for the Administration of Internet Advertising", which stipulates that Internet advertising publishers and advertising operators should review, verify and register the advertiser's name, address and effective contact information and other subject identity information, establish registration files and verify and update them regularly. It also clarifies that paid search ads should be clearly distinguished from natural search results. Another view is that this belongs to information services. The basis is the "Internet Information Search Service Management Regulations" issued by the State Internet Information Office. In this regulation, commercial search services are not directly characterized as advertising, but it emphasizes that Internet information search service providers providing paid search information services should verify the relevant qualifications of customers in accordance with the law.

"Both views emphasize the responsibility of network platforms that provide paid search. "Dong Yizhi, a lawyer at Shanghai Yida Law Firm, said in an interview with our reporter that if these online platforms think that they are only providing search services or conducting paid promotions and are not responsible for the content and qualifications provided by the service providers, it is untenable.

Dong Yizhi believes that the essence of the problem lies in the fact that consumers search for advertisements through online platform search engines, contact service providers through advertisements, and reach a service contract relationship. As a third party, the online platform actually collects fees from advertising providers, that is, service providers, and provides third-party services through technical means such as ranking and big data precision push, which has corresponding responsibilities. "Whether it is in accordance with the Tort Liability Law, the Consumer Rights Protection Law, or the Product Quality Law, the online platform must first review the relevant qualifications of the advertising provider and fulfill its security obligations. When a dispute arises between consumers and service providers, the platform is also obliged to intervene and provide corresponding evaluation standards and punishment measures. ”

Internet supervision needs to have “teeth”

Regulatory authorities have also introduced corresponding punishment measures for paid search ads that violate the “Interim Measures for Internet Advertising Management”. So, why do paid search ads still have various problems, and how can we establish an effective supervision mechanism?

Some people believe that the penalties for violations in the “Interim Measures for Internet Advertising Management” are too weak and cannot achieve a deterrent effect. For example, Google was fined $500 million by the US Department of Justice in 2011 for publishing false medical advertisements, while the Fujian Industry and Commerce Department only fined the search engine service agent 170,000 yuan when investigating and punishing 11 medical institutions for illegally publishing Internet medical advertisements.

In this regard, Dong Yizhi believes that the focus should first be on the technical level. For the services provided by the network information service platform, a corresponding detection platform should be established and connected to the databases of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, the Cyberspace Administration of China and other departments. The second is the government supervision level. This requires government regulatory departments to focus on promoting the transformation and upgrading of the Internet economy, further play a good guiding role, establish early warning mechanisms and prevention mechanisms, and conduct more active supervision to prevent headaches and foot pain. The third is the judicial level. Compared with the United States and the European Union, China lacks guiding cases on related issues.

"If those network service providers who provide false information can really 'bleed' and feel the serious consequences of violations of laws and regulations, it will have an effective warning effect. "Dong Yizhi suggested that we can learn from the public interest litigation method of environmental protection, and produce guiding cases and streamline the mechanism through the intervention of the procuratorate, consumer associations, etc.

From the perspective of building a trustworthy society, both dishonest enterprises and Internet platforms have a lack of integrity. How to ensure that they put integrity building into action? Experts suggest that relevant regulatory authorities can announce and disclose information such as the strength, cooperation, and integrity index of relevant companies in building integrity, which will affect the company's valuation in the capital market, obtain the number of loans from financial institutions, participate in corresponding evaluations organized by government agencies, and government subsidies. Relevant information can also be publicized through national agencies to create a deterrent effect.