Beijing Consumer Association: More than 80% of respondents are "killed" by big data Online shopping problems are the most

Source: Beijing Consumers Association

Although the relevant laws and regulations have gradually improved, and the supervision and law enforcement efforts have also been strengthened, from the perspective of consumer complaints and media reports, the problem of "killing" big data on Internet consumption is still of great concern. In order to continue to understand the problem of "killing" Internet consumption big data, safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of consumers, and promote the healthy development of the Internet economy, the Beijing Municipal Consumer Association entrusted the Beijing Sunshine Consumption Big Data Research Institute to carry out the investigation of the "killing" problem of Internet consumption big data.

1. Basic investigation situation

This big data "killing" problem survey mainly adopts two ways: online questionnaire and consumer experience. Among them, the questionnaire survey was launched on November 1, 2021, and as of November 11, 2021, a total of 4186 valid questionnaires were recovered through channels such as the "Beijing Consumer Association" WeChat, the Beijing Consumer Association Network and the Consumer Network. According to the survey results, 86.91% of the respondents believe that they have had the experience of being "killed" by big data, 82.37% of the respondents believe that the problem of "killing" big data on the Internet is common, and 92.33% of the respondents believe that the reason for big data killing is the use of big data technology to carry out differentiated marketing.

The experience survey selected 16 e-commerce platforms commonly used by consumers, and a total of 32 simulated consumer experience survey samples were completed. The survey results showed that of the 32 simulated consumer experience samples conducted on 16 platforms, 18 samples of new and old user accounts had consistent prices; 14 samples of new and old account prices were inconsistent. Among them, most of the samples are due to different discounts or preferential treatments, resulting in different final transaction prices, but Fliggy Travel and Ele.me individual experience samples show that new and old users buy the same goods (services) at the same time the list price is different, which is obviously suspected of infringing on the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.

2. Main findings

1. More than 80% of the respondents believe that the phenomenon of "killing" big data is common or very common, and said that they have had experience of being "killed" by big data. According to the survey results, more than 80% (82.37%) of the respondents believe that the phenomenon of big data "killing" is very common or common, and only a very small number (1.29%) of the respondents believe that the phenomenon of "killing" big data is not common or does not exist at all. At the same time, more than 80% (86.91%) of the respondents said that they had been "killed" by big data. This shows that the vast majority of respondents believe that the phenomenon of "killing" big data is relatively common, and they believe that they have had the experience of being "killed" by big data.

2. Big data "killing" in online shopping has the most problems, followed by online travel, takeaway and online car-hailing. According to the survey results, more than 80% (82.44%) of the respondents said that they had encountered big data "killing" in the process of online shopping, more than 70% (76.85%) of the respondents had encountered big data "killing" in online travel consumption, reflecting that more than 60% of respondents had encountered big data "killing" in the process of online takeaway (66.96%) and online taxi (63.00%). In addition, some respondents said that they had encountered the problem of big data "killing" when consuming movies and videos. This shows that respondents believe that the problem of big data "killing" is mainly concentrated in consumption areas such as online shopping, online travel, takeaway and online car-hailing.

3. More than 80% of the respondents believe that the "killing" of big data is reflected in the different prices of different users buying the same goods or services at the same time. According to the survey results, more than 80% (85.38%) of the respondents believe that the "killing" of big data is mainly reflected in the different prices of different users buying the same goods or services at the same time, nearly 80% (79.98%) of the respondents believe that it is mainly reflected in the automatic increase in prices after multiple browsing, more than 70% (75.80%) of the respondents believe that it is mainly reflected in different forms of discounts for different users, and nearly 70% (69.37%) of the respondents believe that it is mainly reflected in the hidden or non-sending coupons to old users. More than 60% (62.26%) of the respondents believe that it is mainly reflected in the provision of specific goods or services according to the characteristics of users, and some respondents believe that it is reflected in the different prices of mobile phone configurations, the default check of services purchased before, and the lack of coupons when not buying. This shows that the respondents believe that the "killing" of big data is mainly reflected in the different prices of different users buying the same goods or services at the same time, the price rises automatically after multiple browsing, different users enjoy different forms of discounts, hidden or not sending coupons to old users, and providing specific goods or services according to user characteristics.

4. More than 90% of respondents believe that enterprises use big data to "kill" in order to carry out differentiated marketing. According to the survey results, more than 90% (92.33%) of the respondents believe that enterprises use big data to "kill" in order to carry out differentiated marketing, while the respondents who believe that it is recommended for users to recommend suitable products (services) and save choice costs for users are very small, accounting for 17.27% and 15.67% respectively. This shows that the vast majority of respondents believe that enterprises use big data to "kill" in order to carry out differentiated marketing and obtain more economic benefits; only a small number of respondents believe that enterprises use big data technology to recommend suitable goods (services) for users, or save choice costs for users.

5. More than 90% of the respondents believe that the "killing" of big data will disrupt the market order, and more than 80% of the respondents believe that consumer trust will be overdrawn. According to the survey results, more than 90% (92.02%) of the respondents believe that the "killing" of big data will disrupt the order of market competition; more than 80% (84.64%) of the respondents believe that the "killing" of big data will overdraft consumer trust and reduce corporate reputation; more than 70% (75.80%) of the respondents believe that it will affect the business reputation of the entire industry; nearly 40% (37.70%) of the respondents believe that the "killing" of big data will also reduce user loyalty. It can be seen that the "killing" of big data will not only overdraft the trust of enterprise consumers, reduce the credibility of enterprises and industries, but also disrupt the order of market competition.

6. Nearly 90% of respondents believe that the "killing" of big data will infringe on the rights and interests of consumers, but not many people actually initiate rights protection. According to the survey results, nearly 90% (89.56%) of the respondents believe that the "killing" of big data will harm the legitimate rights and interests of consumers. Among them, more than 80% (80.65%) of the respondents believe that it violates the consumer's right to fair trade, more than 60% (66.13%) of the respondents believe that it violates the consumer's right to know, more than half (51.51%) of the respondents believe that it violates the consumer's right to choose, and more than 30% (37.82%) of the respondents believe that it violates the privacy rights of consumers. However, after encountering the problem of big data "killing", more than half of the respondents chose not to go to the business to consume, more than 30% of the respondents chose to swallow their anger and admit that they were unlucky, and only a very few (0.43%) of the respondents chose to defend their rights through judicial litigation. This shows that although most of the respondents realize that the "killing" behavior of big data violates the legitimate rights and interests of consumers, there are not many people who really protect their rights according to law, and it also shows that consumers' legal awareness and self-protection awareness need to be further improved.

7. Experience surveys found that some platforms have different transaction prices of new and old user accounts purchasing the same goods or services at the same time. For example, when the experiencer books the same date "Songcheng Ancient Love (VIP Ticket) + Lingyin Feilaifeng (Big Ticket) Adult Ticket" on the Fliggy Travel App at the same time through the new and old user accounts, the old user account displays the price of 360 yuan, enjoys the Fliggy red envelope for 10 yuan, and the price after the discount is 350 yuan; while the new user account shows the price of 355 yuan, does not enjoy any discounts, and the new and old user accounts display different prices and enjoy different discounts. The experience staff ordered the same meals at the same restaurant on the Ele.me platform through the two accounts of the new and old users, and the old user account not only had 7 yuan less than the new user account "double subsidy" red envelope, but also the delivery fee was 0.4 yuan less than the new user.

8. Most of the respondents believe that the "killing" behavior of big data is highly hidden and the regulatory means cannot keep up, and hope to further increase supervision and punishment. Regarding the reasons why big data "killing" has been repeatedly prohibited, nearly 90% (88.01%) of the respondents believe that the regulatory means cannot keep up, and at the same time, the respondents who think that the concealment is too strong (85.95%), and the relevant laws and regulations are not perfect (82.32%) have also reached more than 80%, in addition, nearly 80% (79.53%) of the respondents believe that it is not easy to collect evidence. As for how to regulate and govern the problem of "killing" big data, more than 90% (92.43%) of the respondents believe that supervision and punishment should be further strengthened, more than 80% (86.65%) of the respondents believe that the protection of personal information should be increased through improved legislation, more than 70% (70.97%) of the respondents believe that enterprise self-discipline should be strengthened, and more than 60% (65.60%) of the respondents believe that consumers should improve their awareness of self-protection and the ability to protect their rights according to law.

Third, a few investigation suggestions

In order to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of consumers and promote the healthy development of the Internet economy, the Beijing Consumers Association put forward the following suggestions based on the results of the investigation on the "killing" problem of Internet consumption big data:

1. Improve relevant laws and regulations, increase the intensity of personal information protection, and provide a legal basis for standardizing and governing big data "killing" behavior. Since the concept of big data "killing" is subjective and ambiguous, the form is diverse and hidden, and the relevant laws and regulations are still not specific and clear, it is recommended to further improve the relevant laws, regulations and standard systems, increase the protection of consumers' personal information, provide a legal basis for regulating and governing the "killing" behavior of big data, and delineate red line standards for relevant business operators to develop and use big data technology.

2. Innovate regulatory methods and methods, actively use big data supervision technology, and further increase supervision and punishment for operators who violate laws and regulations. In view of the fact that the current relevant laws and regulations are not sound enough, and it is difficult to find and collect evidence for the "killing" behavior of big data, the relevant departments should further innovate the supervision methods and methods, establish a big data online supervision platform, use big data capture and review methods, require operators to report the platform algorithm, collect data types, data uses and other information in advance, and monitor the price of the relevant website and other related data information in real time, and timely make a prejudgment of the possible big data "killing" behavior. For the problem of "killing and ripening" of verified big data, it is necessary to strictly investigate and deal with it in accordance with the law and announce it to the public.

3. Enterprises should operate in good faith and abide by the law, reasonably collect and use personal information, actively accept supervision, and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of consumers. Enterprises should strictly implement the requirements of laws and regulations, comply with business ethics and industry norms; collect and use consumers' personal information, should follow the principles of legality, legitimacy and necessity, clearly indicate the purpose, method and scope of collection and use of information, and obtain the consent of consumers; when pushing goods or services according to the characteristics of consumers, they should also provide consumers with options that are not targeted at their personal characteristics, protecting consumers' right to know and choose; when formulating price standards and carrying out relevant promotional activities, Do not set unfair and unreasonable trading rules, price standards, discounts, etc., and fully protect consumers' fair trading rights. Periodically report the collection and use of personal information to the regulatory authorities, truthfully inform enterprises of the relevant circumstances of their use of big data information, and actively accept the supervision of relevant departments.

4. Consumers should take the initiative to learn relevant legal knowledge, and continuously improve their awareness of self-protection and their ability to protect their rights according to law. Consumers should learn about relevant laws and regulations and common sense of consumption, enhance their awareness of personal information protection, carefully read the terms of the user registration agreement and privacy protection agreement, minimize the traces of personal information left on the Internet, and reduce the frequency of using functions such as search collection on the platform. When purchasing goods or services online, try to compare prices at different merchants in different ways. If you encounter the problem of "killing" big data, you should save the evidence in time by taking screenshots or recording videos. If the negotiation with the merchant fails, you can complain and report to the consumer association or relevant departments to protect your legitimate rights and interests in accordance with the law.