Standardize the development of video applications and protect consumer rights
2023-03-21
In recent years, major video apps have developed steadily and regularly in content fields such as dramas, variety shows, animation, and games, gradually realizing the transformation and upgrading of development strategies, resulting in a series of film and television works with both popularity and reputation. China-Chic IP has made great achievements, the characteristic track has gradually risen, and the national style and traditional aesthetic strength have emerged. It is no exaggeration to say that all kinds of video apps have not only enriched people's spiritual and cultural life, but also promoted the prosperity of China's entertainment industry to a certain extent. With the intensification of competition among video apps, the issue of consumer rights protection is increasingly prominent, including but not limited to "misleading propaganda" infringing on consumers' right to know, "episode by episode unlocking" infringing on consumers' right to choose, "dolly charging" infringing on consumers' fair trading rights, and "rights and interests restrictions" infringing on consumers' time-limited interests. In essence, it is an unreasonable transfer of profit pressure from operators to consumer groups. The huge gap between the loss of consumer rights and the cost of rights protection has given video apps the confidence to "exploit" consumers in a fancy way. In the long run, the normal profit model of the video industry based on exclusive rights to provide access to member income and based on content distribution to obtain advertising income will not be sustainable, and even the entire industry will fall into a downward spiral of "bad currency driving out good currency". In order to fully protect consumers' rights and interests and correct the unhealthy orientation of the operation of the platform, it is necessary to innovate the governance mechanism of mutual compatibility between economic logic and social logic, form a development ecology with reasonable strategies, healthy and orderly, and benign interaction, and urge operators to adopt a responsible business model. Implementing the protection of video app consumers' rights and interests requires the mutual support of the spirit of contract and the concept of compliance with the law. The personalized development of business models and the full protection of consumer rights and interests are a long-term dynamic adaptation process. Operators occupying an advantageous position in information and technology should not abuse format contracts to "exclude or restrict consumer rights.". In actual operation, many video apps arbitrarily change the terms of the agreement for profit, and consumers are deemed to have "agreed" to the contract change as long as they continue to use it. This behavior not only violates the fairness principle of concluding format contracts in Article 496 of the Civil Code, but also violates the mandatory requirement of Article 34 of the Electronic Commerce Law to publicly announce the modification 7 days in advance. In response to situations where operators unilaterally restrict the clarity of the screen, prohibit external playback of connections, and block multiple device login accounts during the performance of the contract, user agreement changes should be promoted from the "informed consent" static mode to the "informed consent" dynamic mode. Improving the protection of video app consumers' rights and interests needs to be complemented by legal rules and technical standards. In order to reduce the regulatory arbitrage space brought about by technological iterations, relevant laws and standards must keep pace with the times, timely respond to changes in the consumption model of video apps, and make dynamic adjustments as needed. For example, in the face of the constant prohibition of endogenous advertising, it may be considered to supplement prohibited or conditional broadcasting rules for emerging advertising types such as interludes, street lights, plot placement, pop-up windows, and pause pages, in addition to the existing provisions of Articles 17 and 18 of the Administrative Measures for the Broadcasting of Radio and Television Advertisements that prohibit episode breaks and non titled corner advertisements, and Article 44 of the Advertising Law that prohibit the inability to turn off pop-up advertisements with one click. Another example is the video app "Android and Apple
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