The "Little Yang brothers" in the live broadcast room should also be managed, and the "Three Sheep" were investigated
The public attention attracted by Brother Xiao Yang and the Three Sheep Company he founded continues.
Before the Mid-Autumn Festival, the "Hong Kong Meicheng Mooncakes" sold by Xiao Yangge in the live broadcast room were revealed to be actually produced in Guangdong, not Hong Kong. On September 17, the Market Supervision Bureau of Hefei High-tech Zone, Anhui Province, issued a notice that a case has been filed against Three Sheep Network Technology Co., Ltd. for suspected "misleading consumers" and other behaviors in the live broadcast. On September 18, the Guangzhou Huadu District Market Supervision and Administration Bureau informed the public of the complicated relationship between several companies involved in Meicheng mooncakes, and explained the inspection results of the products they proactively submitted for inspection and the results of the regulatory authorities' proactive inspections of mooncake manufacturers in the jurisdiction. The latest progress is that no quality and safety issues have been found in the mooncakes involved in the controversial topic.
Hefei is the location of the Three Sheep live broadcast platform, and Guangzhou is the location of the mooncake manufacturer. The joint investigation between the two places is undoubtedly a good start. Because this is not the first time that Xiao Yangge has been suspected of false advertising, and similar situations have occurred in other live broadcast rooms, but consumers often face various disputes in the process of seeking solutions to their problems. The anchors always push the responsibility to the manufacturers, and the manufacturers say that there is no problem with the quality of the product. In this way, consumers abide by the clause in the Consumer Protection Law that "if the operator provides goods or services with fraudulent behavior, it shall increase compensation for the losses suffered by the consumer at the request of the consumer", but it is difficult to obtain compensation.
Take "Hong Kong Meicheng Mooncakes" as an example. The reason why public sentiment exploded was not because everyone cared about the quality and safety of the food, but because Xiao Yangge claimed during the live broadcast that the brand "has been in business for more than 20 years", "This is Hong Kong's Meicheng", and "Meicheng is a big brand". His exaggerated statement was a catalyst for consumers to place orders frantically in the live broadcast room, and also caused them to have a huge psychological gap after learning the truth. Therefore, the sales of Hong Kong Meicheng mooncakes in Xiao Yangge's live broadcast room exceeded 50 million yuan. Whether it was the manufacturer using the "Hong Kong registered, mainland produced" method of porcelain marketing, or the live broadcast room anchor misled consumers by strengthening the "Hong Kong brand" label through rhetoric, or the two parties "cooperated" to jointly complete the false propaganda, it is necessary for the market supervision departments of the two places to conduct a joint investigation, and clarify the details of the cooperation mode and content of the cooperation between the two parties, and then clarify the breach of contract liability that the manufacturer and the live broadcast room should bear.
The fact that the regulatory authorities are directly involved in the investigation is so complicated fully demonstrates the complexity and difficulty of supervision of the new model of live streaming. It is not difficult to imagine how troublesome it is for ordinary consumers to hold the live streaming room accountable for false advertising. Therefore, following up on the follow-up investigation of "Three Sheep" and announcing the results of the handling is not only to give an explanation to the consumers who bought "Hong Kong Meicheng Mooncakes" in the live streaming room, but also to set a standard for the current live streaming of goods.
As an emerging business model, live streaming has a strong driving effect on both the online economy and the local economy. On the one hand, the live streaming rooms of the top anchors and the various live streaming platforms are symbiotic entities. Therefore, in the face of repeated violations in the live streaming rooms, it is difficult for the various live streaming platforms to take the initiative to assume regulatory responsibilities. Taking Xiao Yangge’s live streaming room as an example, from the "three-no hair dryer" and the wall-breaking machine with false power in 2022 to this year's "fake Moutai" and "Caotou meat", Xiao Yangge has been suspected of "selling fakes" many times, but before the "Hong Kong Meicheng Mooncakes" overturned this time, the Douyin platform did not take the initiative to intervene, but turned a blind eye to similar operations of the top anchors for a long time, which is undoubtedly a disguised connivance of the anchor's false propaganda.
On the other hand, as a leading content provider of domestic Internet platforms, Three Sheep has an annual live-streaming sales value of over 10 billion yuan and pays over 100 million yuan in taxes. The supervision of such leading companies will indirectly affect local economic interests, which also makes some members of the public worry that local regulatory authorities are unwilling to strictly supervise.
However, as live streaming sales become increasingly popular, it is urgent to regulate false propaganda in live streaming rooms. If false propaganda is allowed to run rampant, it will not only be unfair to the live streaming hosts who operate in good faith, but will also damage the public's trust in live streaming sales, thus affecting the sustainable development of this business form. Both live streaming platforms and local regulatory authorities should act as soon as possible and actively set rules for live streaming sales. Only by establishing clear rules of the game and punishing those who flout and break the rules in live streaming rooms can we optimize the online business environment of live streaming rooms and restore the public's trust in live streaming sales.