Consumer sympathy borrows misery to increase powder and then broadcast live with goods. When will online celebrity sell misery and drain？
Investigation motive
"I still can’t figure out why I will be diagnosed with liver cancer." Recently, a online celebrity blogger posted a video of 7 minutes and 52 seconds on social platforms, claiming that he was only 25 years old and was diagnosed with liver cancer. In the video, he introduced in detail the information such as "liver cancer was detected during physical examination" and "the doctor told me that the chance of cure is not great". Once the video was released, related topics quickly rushed to the hot search list.
However, just as everyone expressed their regret and concern and encouraged him to "treat him well", things turned upside down — — Some netizens noticed the last flash of the video, and the subtitle showed that "the content of this video is purely fictitious". This made many netizens extremely angry, denouncing it as the traffic has no bottom line, and some netizens said, "Do you know that I saw my last mood as a patient with cancer?"
Finally, the online celebrity blogger made an apology. At present, the blogger has violated the platform community convention, and his account has been banned in stages, banned from being concerned, and suspended from advertising revenue.
On the network platform, how many people sell miserable drainage like the above-mentioned online celebrity bloggers? How to rectify the unscrupulous drainage behavior? The reporter conducted an investigation and interview for this purpose.
□ Our reporter Han Dandong
□ Intern of this newspaper Wang Yitian
"From sympathy to anger, it’s like riding an emotional roller coaster." A netizen commented on "online celebrity bloggers sent videos claiming to be diagnosed with liver cancer". Many netizens said that online celebrity’s explanation that "my initial intention in doing this issue was to attract people’s attention to my body" was unacceptable, saying that there was no need to find some high-sounding reasons.
"Just to drain." An industry insider who is engaged in online celebrity incubation recently said in an interview with the reporter of Rule of Law Daily that if it is really for the purpose of prompting health, it should be made clear at the beginning, but the blogger in online celebrity chose to mention "The content of this video is pure fiction" at the end of the video, and it was not explained in the copy.
The insider told reporters that in reality, some network anchors and bloggers use the sympathy and empathy of netizens to achieve rapid drainage and powder increase in a miserable way, and then realize cash. There are even some institutions that specialize in incubating this "man-made" online celebrity, and then make profits by receiving advertisements, setting up commodity purchase links, and live broadcasting with goods.
In fact, from the effect point of view, the above-mentioned online celebrity bloggers’ miserable selling videos have indeed achieved the purpose of drainage. In just one day, the blogger’s fans have reached more than 5.5 million, and the related videos have played more than 20 million, while his previous videos have played more than 3 million.
A number of interviewed experts said that behaviors such as selling miserable drainage, consuming sympathy, and taking advantage of suffering to make money have emerged in an endless stream on the online platform. The fabricated selling miserable "people set up" can’t stand the test, which violates social public order and good customs, and also violates relevant laws and network norms. Making profits by fabricating stories may also constitute criminal crimes such as fraud, and it is necessary to intensify the rectification of such chaos.
First, the auction was badly drained.
Then live broadcast with goods for profit.
"I failed to start a business for four years, and I will cancel my company tomorrow, and millions of people will hit Shui Piao." "I suddenly encountered family changes, and now I have cancer, and now I am heavily in debt." "Please help me, I just turned 20, and I was diagnosed with cancer." "My parents died when I was a child, and I dropped out of school to work at the age of 14" … …
The reporter noticed that at present, there are still many anchors and bloggers telling their sufferings to the camera on major short video platforms. Some people are dressed in rags, some people are sweating with manual labor, and some people are crying. These short videos can often arouse the sympathy of a large number of netizens, with a high number of hits, and the number of fans of anchors and bloggers is also growing rapidly.
For example, a blogger on a certain platform, whose previous works were mainly videos of major talent markets and recruitment markets, had only a few thousand broadcasts. Then, after releasing the video that I failed to start my own business and found out that I was suffering from oral cancer, the broadcast volume rose rapidly, exceeding 2 million.
It’s really hard to tell whether these videos are true or not. Some netizens left a message under these videos: I was touched, I hope I am not spending sympathy. Some netizens suddenly realized after seeing the blogger start live broadcast with the goods: so that’s it.
The reporter combed and found that it is not uncommon for fictional facts to sell miserably and then realize the realization of goods.
In a video, the protagonist is a white-haired old man with dark skin and wrinkled face. His hands are trembling and folded on his chest, and he choked and said, "I am 80 years old. What should I do if pomegranate can’t be sold?" The copy of the video is "This grandfather asked me to help him sell pomegranate, but I can’t sell it for 3 kg and 9.9 packages"; In another video, the same dubbing, sad music, a vicissitudes of life of the old man carrying two buckets of water staggered past, behind a pomegranate tree.
After verification, the above two videos were all posed. The pomegranate in the former old man’s house was sold out at that time, and the old man who carried water didn’t grow pomegranate at home. Facing the door-to-door law enforcement officers, video publisher Qiu Moumou said that this is to gain sympathy and attract attention to sell goods. Finally, law enforcement officers criticized and educated Qiu Moumou, and Qiu Moumou also expressed remorse for publishing false videos.
What’s more, under the banner of "helping the poor", through fictional life scenes, exaggerating and fictional poverty can achieve the purpose of attracting eyeballs and attracting fans, so as to live broadcast goods for profit. In 2021, the police in Liangshan Prefecture, Sichuan Province disclosed such a case: The "Korean Team" fictionalized the miserable life experience of Ajia, a little girl in Liangshan, who had no father or mother and could not afford to go to school, and then sold the apples produced by poor villagers. The so-called self-produced apples are all wholesale in the market.
In the end, members of the "Korean Team" were given administrative punishment, and the planner Zhao Moumou was administratively detained for 7 days according to law.
There are also bloggers who released videos that sold badly and defrauded money after gaining sympathy from fans, and were finally sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment for fraud.
Remediation of selling misery and draining chaos
Punish according to law and contract
According to Zhu Wei, deputy director of the Communication Law Research Center of China University of Political Science and Law, online celebrity belongs to the category of public figures. Judging from some court decisions, the personality rights of public figures are restricted to some extent. online celebrity has a large number of fans, and his expression should bear a higher duty of care than ordinary people, which comes from both the moral level and the legal level.
"In today’s developed network communication, some online celebrity have millions of fans, and the benefits of a live broadcast are very considerable. Online celebrity’s words and deeds may cause netizens to imitate, discuss and discuss, so he must bear the social responsibility that matches it and need to be bound by higher moral standards. " Zhu Jie, a senior partner of Taihetai (Chongqing) Law Firm, believes that bloggers and anchors in online celebrity have a wide audience, and it is easy to cause social controversy and disrupt public order by fabricating stories of selling tragedies and spreading rumors.
In Zhu Jie’s view, deceiving netizens through false information and gaining sympathy to get high traffic is essentially that online celebrity gains benefits through deception, which should be given a negative moral and legal evaluation and punished in various ways. If online celebrity obtains donations and rewards from netizens by fabricating false information, it is suspected of fraud.
In order to rectify the chaos of selling and draining, the relevant departments are taking active actions.
In March of this year, the Central Network Information Office launched a two-month "Clear and Strict Renovation ‘ Since the media ’ Chaos "special action, focusing on social, short videos, webcasts and other types of key platforms, resolutely crack down on outstanding problems such as" self-media "rumors, counterfeiting, illegal profits, and strictly deal with them to create a clear cyberspace. It is mentioned that strict rectification of "self-media" uses vulnerable groups to realize traffic, including cajoling, luring the elderly to shoot videos, setting up live broadcasts, and defrauding netizens to like, reward and donate; Deceive and seduce disabled people, and gain traffic through illegal and immoral ways such as selling badly, spoofing and abusing.
On March 28th, the State Council Information Office held a press conference on the "Clear and Clear" series of special actions in 2023. Niu Yibing, deputy director of the National Internet Information Office, responded to the problem of content-oriented governance of short videos at the meeting, pointing out that "comprehensively cleaning up short videos that are misdirected and mislead the public by forging scenes, compiling details and fictional experiences" is one of the main contents of this special action.
A staff member of a short video platform told the reporter that for all kinds of illegal videos or live broadcasts such as "sex, ugliness, strangeness, falsehood, vulgarity and gambling", the platform will comprehensively investigate and clean up the anchors and guilds suspected of the above behaviors, and give the following penalties according to the actual behavior severity, subjective malice and impact of the anchors:
Give warning and stop broadcasting punishment for the first violation, and educate and control it; For the second time, the right to live broadcast was recovered for 7 days in violation of regulations, and it was required to pass the online examination and training, and the broadcast was resumed after the examination passed; For the third time, the right to live broadcast was illegally recovered for 30 days, and it was required to receive offline training and education. After passing the exam, it resumed broadcasting and asked it to publicly release the self-discipline announcement video; For those who repeatedly violate the norms for more than four times and cause adverse social impacts, the live broadcast rights will be recovered indefinitely and publicized, and the relevant guilds will be warned to publicize, freeze their rights until they are retired, and at the same time, they will be reported to the higher authorities as the case may be.
The staff member said that for anchors and guilds with serious violations or involving illegal and criminal acts, the platform will take the initiative to report the industry blacklist and report the relevant information to the public security and other relevant departments.
However, experts pointed out that for some videos that sell miserably, if there is no obvious violation of the law, the relevant anchors may have to repeatedly violate the rules before they can be completely removed from the platform. If they are not reported, the platform may find it difficult to take the initiative in time. Compared with the flooding degree of such videos and online celebrity’s huge profits, the punishment is obviously weak.
Establish a joint disciplinary system
Promote platform public co-governance
Zhu Jie believes that platform supervision and public opinion supervision are the key to rectify this kind of chaos. The network platform should fulfill the main responsibility of information content management, and take ecological management, real-time inspection and timely disposal of network information. If it is found that the behavior of selling miserable drainage is found, the platform can ban it, and if the circumstances are serious, the live broadcast room will be banned and it is forbidden to start broadcasting again.
"Webcast platforms should strengthen supervision and punishment measures, especially for online celebrity bloggers who have been banned. Major live short video platforms need to reach a consensus and join hands to resist. In addition, complaints and reports can be set up in a prominent position, and netizens can report such anchors and bloggers to realize the network ecology of the platform and the public. " Zhu Jie said.
Han Xinhua, an associate professor in the Department of Law of the School of Cultural Industry Management of China Communication University and director of the Teaching and Research Section of Cultural Rule of Law, believes that at present, the platform mainly manages itself according to the community code and user agreement, and takes disciplinary measures to users who violate the rules, such as restricting their functions, stopping their work and banning them, according to the severity. Law enforcement agencies that constitute illegal crimes will impose penalties. The punishment of a single platform is not enough, and it is necessary to form a joint force.
Zhu Wei suggested that joint punishment and classified management of credit should be carried out, and the credit of online celebrity, who fabricated false facts and violated moral laws, should be downgraded to a certain extent or seriously violated the rules to a certain extent, and should be given a title. Secondly, the actual users, account owners, registrants and MCN institutions behind online celebrity account should bear relevant responsibilities.
"The responsibility of the platform should be increased. For videos with hot spots, high clicks and high replies, the platform should strengthen the review before pushing it to a higher hot spot, and the platform algorithm should also strengthen supervision. If the works in the platform are hot, the platform should bear greater responsibility. If there is a problem, the platform should jointly punish the actual users, account owners, registrants and MCN institutions behind this account." Zhu Wei said.
Han Xinhua believes that brokerage institutions and trade associations should play more roles. Brokerage agencies and contracted anchors are a community of interests, so they should regularly train their contracted network anchors in communication ethics, policies and laws, and conduct daily supervision and guidance on their behavior.
In addition, Zhu Jie also mentioned that administrative law enforcement departments can impose administrative penalties such as fines, detention and revocation of business licenses on online celebrity and related institutions, or unify the market "white list" access standards. "The lure of interest brought by the huge traffic has led some online celebrity to make great efforts to do something appalling and make up stories to gain attention. Relevant departments should give positive guidance to this disorderly pursuit of interests and investigate and deal with violations of laws and regulations in a timely manner. "
Comics/Gao Yue