Dialogue New Media | Analysis of the Legal Connotation of Internet Red Economy in the New Media Era

In May this year, Wang Weiya, a woman with goods, was pushed to the forefront of public opinion for selling fake Supreme co-brand goods live "rollover". Later, "Via apologized for selling fake Supreme co-brand goods" rushed into the microblog search, with a reading of 0.47 billion. On June 3, an administrative penalty once again entered the public eye. Qian Xun (Hangzhou) Cultural Media Co., Ltd. was administratively punished and confiscated 530000 yuan, which was turned over to the state treasury. The decision document number is Hangzhou Gaoxin (Bin) Municipal Supervision and Punishment Office [2021] No. 329001, and the date of administrative punishment is April 8, 2021. The cause of punishment is that "advertisements contain content and circumstances that hinder public order and violate good social customs". According to Tianyan Zha APP, Wei Ya's husband Dong Haifeng is its legal representative and suspected actual controller of the company. The company is also wholly owned by Qian Xun (Hangzhou) Holding Co., Ltd., and Wei Ya (Huang Wei) himself indirectly holds the shares of the latter.

With the advent of the new media Internet celebrity economy era, while paying attention to the huge economic benefits arising from it, we need to pay more attention to the legal attributes behind it and pay attention to the accompanying legal issues.

Development of 1. New Media Era

The first stage is the era of traditional radio and television media, we can get access to the information step by step, but it can not meet the needs of individuals for further exploration, let alone individual interaction and participation. We can call this kind of information acquisition method "package information", that is, only the information in the package can be obtained, the rest of the information is unknown, and the package content is the same for everyone.

The second stage is the era of Internet media. With the popularization of personal PC, the Internet has created many online red figures (such as Sister Furong) and online red articles. However, at the same time, poor behaviors such as rubbing hot spots, headline parties, and blurring inflammatory words to attract attention without any bottom line were created. People's pursuit of truth, goodness and beauty continues to exist. If Hepburn and Sister Furong are juxtaposed, will the feeling of beauty be judged on a higher level? If we use the way of "judging ugliness" to create a net celebrity, it will only be a flash in the pan. Moreover, at this stage, it is restricted by the physical conditions that personal PCs cannot be carried with them, resulting in the first generation of net red being limited to the talk after the Internet, and the net red economy of traffic cashing is not yet mature. But the popularity of smart phones will end all this, and the new stage is on schedule.

The third stage is our current new media era. When 5G technology and smart technology are combined, an era of interconnection of everything is about to emerge. Almost everyone has one or more smart phones. As a node, everyone can use their own handheld terminal anytime and anywhere. Entering the new media world, this stage can be called the self-media era. Personal wishes can be freely expressed, and when personalized needs and multiculturalism can be met at different levels, the vitality of the self-media era will be released. At this time, Internet red has obvious market attributes. Internet red can be either "red people" or "red things". Everyone can be red and everything can be red, initially forming an Internet red economy.

Analysis of the Economic Attributes of 2. Net Red

The German sociologist Professor Elizabeth Nell Newman developed the "spiral of silence" theory: most individuals will try to avoid isolation due to holding certain attitudes and beliefs alone. For fear of isolation, he was reluctant to speak out. Professor Elizabeth Nell Newman suggests that the dominant or increasingly supportive views gain more power, while the other side loses more and more support. After several repetitions, the opinions that occupy the "dominant" position become stronger and stronger, while the voices of those who hold the "inferior" opinions become weaker and weaker. This cycle has formed "one side is more and more vocal, while the other The more and more silent spiral process".

After the Internet intervenes in the "spiral of silence", it accelerates the spiral process, quickly forming overwhelming opinions, and further amplifying the mentality of netizens. The Internet Red is the opinion leader (KOL) in this process. Those netizens who have no opinions, wavering people and those who seek common opinions will all "ring together" in front of the Internet Red who is shaking their arms and shouting. The interaction between the Internet Red and fans will generate traffic realization. This has economic properties. Of course, there are also "rollover" net red, and then the tree falls down and the monkey is scattered, any industry is the same, if you expect to earn "fast money", the result is Easy come ,easy go.

But in any case, the combination of the Internet celebrity economy and the new media era has become a feature of this era. Even if the Internet celebrities sing and I appear on the stage, they cannot erase the brand of this era, because the Internet celebrity economy has penetrated into our lives and is close. It is an unavoidable fact that market circulation and government regulation are urgently needed.

Discussion on the Profit Model of 3. Net Red Economy

How is the net red economy profitable? Its essence is to meet and tap individual needs. In the era of network economy, there is a new theory-"long tail theory". That is, when the cost of goods sold is drastically reduced or even negligible, almost any product that previously seemed to be in extremely low demand will be bought as long as it is sold. As long as the storage and circulation channels are large enough, the market share of products with low demand or poor sales can match or even larger than that of those few hot-selling products. The new media network red economy realizes the sales of nearly zero inventory and zero cost, and can quickly complete the circulation of products without the need for high investment in advance to expand the market. Every time I follow the net red to finish the consumption of "chopping hands", I think about it carefully. I wonder if I can find a sense of accomplishment when I am building the richest young man like Via and Jiaqi?

The economic profit model of Internet Red is usually manifested as: becoming an e-commerce or assisting e-commerce sales (for example, Suning 8.18 Fever Festival, inviting 818 Internet Red to complete together), IP sales or portrait license, signing a contract for reward, live delivery of goods, advertisement delivery (for example, the value of an advertisement in Chattering Big V is about 200000), entertainment artists (for example, Li Jiaqi and Wei Ya participate in the "talk show conference", including all kinds of commercial activities, advertising, film and television variety, etc.).

Legal Attributes of 4. Net Red Economy

Net red economy is actually the use of net red opinion leader status, to complete the flow of cash, so as to promote the social commodity circulation process to accelerate the completion. For example, the "poetic dwelling" life video constructed by "Li Ziqi" not only has a strong influence in China, but also has an amazing influence abroad. On February 2, 2021, Guinness World Records announced that Li Ziqi broke the Guinness World Record for the "YouTube Chinese Channel Most Subscriptions" set by himself with 14.1 million YouTube subscriptions. There is a share of advertisements for videos sent on YouTube platforms. Generally, the number of videos played is between 7.04 yuan and 13.37 yuan for 1,000 times, while the number of videos played by Li Ziqi often reaches 6 million to 7 million. In this way, when we envy this unrepeatable and successful Internet celebrity, we should also admire the Internet celebrity economic model for promoting domestic and international double circulation has a huge role, not only to solve the problem of material circulation during China's anti-epidemic period, but also as a content disseminator to export values, culture and benefit.

Therefore, in order to contribute to the economic development of Internet celebrities, we really need to pay attention to its legal attributes and make appropriate analysis.

(I) Internet Red Economic Participants

The net red we see is just a character appearing in the video, which is just a representation. In fact, in addition, there are different subjects involved in e-commerce platform, MCN, market planning, topic marketing, fan management and so on.

We see that the actual owner of Li Ziqi's cultural communication co., ltd. is "Hangzhou weian brand management co., ltd." this company is actually MCN company. This shows that the net red economy is not only the net red we see, but is completed with the participation of a large group. The net red economy itself has been integrated into the existing economic model, and these participants are regulated by investment finance and corporate laws and regulations respectively.

Analysis of (II) Net Red Sales Behavior

1. If Internet celebrities produce and sell themselves, they appear in the role of a producer, and their behavior should comply with the provisions of the Product Quality Law and assume producer responsibility for product quality and defective products, and should obtain corresponding administrative licenses for specific commodities.

two.. If online celebrities directly sell other people's products, they belong to the sellers stipulated in the Product quality Law and the Consumer Rights and interests Protection Law, and shall bear the responsibility of the seller. That is, the first obligation of consumers to buy and use goods damaged, and for defective products to bear joint and several liability with the producer, compensation and then internal recovery.

However, for both production and sales, the quality of the goods produced and sold should be guaranteed. If it is shoddy and unqualified products are passed off as qualified products, it is not as simple as "live rollover", nor is it just a "refund of one compensation for three", but is suspected of "the crime of producing and selling fake and shoddy goods". According to the crime, "those with a sales amount of more than 2 million yuan shall be sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment or life imprisonment, and a fine of not more than 50% but not more than twice the sales amount or confiscation of property." If the sales amount reaches 2 million, there will be a big punishment. Is it extremely frightening to think carefully about the top flow of net red? How to grasp the quality of products should be the primary consideration of net red.

3. The sale of online red endorsement products belongs to the role of advertising spokesperson stipulated in the Advertising Law. When advertising as an endorsement, it is necessary to make it clear that a large number of products are not allowed to be advertised through the mass media, such as medical treatment, medicine, medical equipment, health food, infant dairy products that replace breast milk in whole or in part. Advertising spokesmen are prohibited from falsely endorsements of unused goods or services. Spokesmen who recommend and prove goods and services in advertisements shall be based on facts and shall not recommend or prove unused goods or services they have not received. False endorsement should be a fraud in the law on the protection of consumers' rights and interests, and bear the responsibility of "refund one compensation for three". At the same time, the market supervision department has the right to confiscate its illegal income and impose a fine of more than one time and less than two times of the illegal income.

4. Net red and sellers cooperate with commission-based sales. In this mode, the net red and the seller cooperate with each other to complete the sale through sales sharing. The whole sale is a common act of both parties. If both natural persons can refer to the partnership regulations, they shall bear joint and several liability to the outside world. Considering the specific sales process, it may be that a performance contract is concluded in the name of one party, and based on the relativity of the contract, one party may assume responsibility and share the responsibility internally according to the debt.

(III) Internet Red Economic Legal Regulation

Although the net red economy is an eyeball economy, it is by no means a place outside the law. We should not only pay attention to the market attributes of the net red model, but also pay attention to its legal logic.

For the live broadcast platform and network anchor live broadcast behavior, should obtain the Internet news information service qualification and provide agricultural services within the scope of permission. If you provide live broadcast services for online performances and online audiovisual programs, you also need to obtain a license for information network dissemination of audiovisual programs in accordance with the "Internet Audiovisual Program Service Management Regulations" and other laws and regulations. At the same time, some platforms or anchors, in order to cater to the needs of "judging ugliness", live broadcast content is vulgar, even involving terror, violence and pornography, which touches the bottom line of the law. The law makes requirements for the network content audit of network operators, There are relevant provisions in the network security law, the provisions on the management of Internet live broadcast service, the measures for the management of Internet information service, the provisions on the management of mobile Internet application information service, the provisions on technical measures for Internet security protection, and the measures for the management of security protection of international networking of computer information network.

In the case of network evidence disappearing at any time and difficult to obtain, the State Internet Information Office issued the "Regulations on the Administration of Internet Live Service" requiring Internet live service providers to record the content and log information released by Internet live service users and keep it for 60 days. This also requires the main body of the Internet Red economy to fix the evidence as soon as possible if it involves a dispute over live webcasting. Otherwise, it will exceed a certain time limit. Although there are still litigation rights, the evidence will be difficult to obtain, and the facts of the dispute will not be fully presented to the parties to resolve the dispute, which will not help to resolve the dispute.

As for the ownership of the platform account, an article in this column has already mentioned it, but the real name of the account still needs to be further prompted. The name used by the live broadcast platform we saw is not the real name, for example, Li Ziqi's real name is Li Jiajia. Weiya, real name Huang Wei; There are many other live broadcast personnel whose real names we don't know. The actual litigation or dispute is the need to verify the true identity of the subject. The "Regulations on the Administration of Internet Live Broadcast Services" require Internet live broadcast service providers to authenticate real identity information based on mobile phone numbers and other methods for Internet live broadcast users in accordance with the principle of "real name in the background and voluntary in the front desk", and to authenticate Internet live broadcast publishers based on identity documents, business licenses, organization code certificates, etc. Of course, in addition to the responsibility of platform management, it also needs the self-discipline of live broadcast operators and the supervision of government agencies to promote the healthy and healthy development of the industry. For related issues, the article will further discuss them later.

In short, new technology has created new media, and new media has given birth to a new economic model. However, no matter what kind of model, it should be operated within the legal scope. Otherwise, it can only become a flash in the pan and live up to the infinite possibilities provided by the self media era.