To withdraw 200 yuan, you need to find 500 friends to play the game?

"Why can't I withdraw my own money?"

The platform's harsh constraints simply cannot be met

■ Investigate the motivation

Recently, Mr. Li from Xi'an, Shaanxi Province called to reflect the problem of "the platform cannot be withdrawn". Mr. Li said that when he was watching a short video, he was attracted by an advertisement for playing a game and receiving a red envelope, and after entering the game, the page prompted him to watch a certain amount of advertising videos before he could withdraw money. In the next week, he swiped advertisements when he was free, and his eyes were dazzled, and finally reached the withdrawal conditions of 200 yuan, and the platform reminded him to invite 500 friends to play this game before he could withdraw it.

"Where do I go from to invite 500 friends to play this game?!" Mr. Li said angrily, this is obviously the platform does not allow withdrawals, and temporarily sets conditions that cannot be completed at all.

At present, many platforms have set up a withdrawal function, which can accumulate the withdrawal amount by playing games, watching videos, doing tasks, etc., but the problem of difficulty in withdrawing also continues to appear. To this end, the reporter conducted an investigative interview.

"Why can't I withdraw my own money?" Mr. Li from Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, recently encountered the problem of playing games and watching advertisements to accumulate cash withdrawals, but could not withdraw them.

Mr. Li said that he watched the game page ads for a week, and after reaching the 200 yuan withdrawal condition, the platform temporarily added a new withdrawal requirement: invite 500 friends to play the game. "It is unreasonable to temporarily increase the withdrawal requirements, and the condition of inviting 500 friends to play the game cannot be fulfilled at all. ”

This experience is not unique. The reporter of "Rule of Law Daily" recently found in the investigation that there are various withdrawal thresholds on some Internet platforms, some of which are constantly changing and creating out of nothing, and some of which are difficult for users to complete or cannot be completed at all.

Click on a software to brush the video, the reporter received a prompt "You have received 8.88 yuan cash red envelope, whether to withdraw", after selecting the withdrawal amount of 8.88 yuan, the system prompted "0.1 yuan has arrived" If you want to continue to withdraw, you must follow the rules of the platform: you can withdraw 0.11 yuan for watching 10 videos, you can continue to withdraw 0.11 yuan for watching 30 videos, you can withdraw 0.11 yuan for logging in for 3 consecutive days, and you can withdraw 0.3 yuan and 0.5 yuan respectively for logging in for 3 days and 5 days, and the amount of cash that can be withdrawn has also changed from 8.8 yuan to 20 yuan.

In addition to the number of login days, if you want to reach the withdrawal threshold, you also need to get the corresponding gold coins, watching the video is the fastest way to get gold coins, watch 8 minutes a day to get 6,000 gold coins, watch 20 minutes to get 15,000 gold coins, watch two hours a week to get 20,000 gold coins, to 19.99 yuan to 400,000 gold coins, 19.99 yuan to 20 yuan to 500,000 gold coins.

Users of this software told reporters that if you don't log in for a few days in the middle, the reward will automatically decrease or disappear, and when your next withdrawal is from 19.99 yuan to 20 yuan, you need to log in for 100 consecutive days before you can do it, and these 100 days do not include those days when you watched the video before, and these were not informed to the user before applying for withdrawal.

"Sign up to withdraw money and easily earn double and triple digits. "When the reporter opened a game with cashback that was recently recommended by the anchor, he found that there would be a red envelope of 168 yuan just after logging in to the game, but the withdrawal standard was to recharge 300 yuan and 500 yuan, and even if he recharged within the specified time, he could not meet the level requirements of the game character at all, and he could not reach the withdrawal amount.

Logging in to a social software, the reporter found that when he first started withdrawing, the minimum withdrawal amount was 10 yuan, and when the account balance became 10 yuan after completing various tasks, the minimum withdrawal amount became 15 yuan, and when he saved 15 yuan, the minimum withdrawal amount became 20 yuan.

Entering an old clothes recycling platform, the reporter saw that when the clothes were recycled, the amount needed to be over 10 yuan to be withdrawn, but the platform did not clearly inform them before recycling.

There is also a moving master who complained to the reporter that he is not ready to continue to work on the current moving platform due to physical reasons, so he is ready to withdraw the remaining 50 yuan in the platform wallet, but the system prompts that the minimum withdrawal amount is 100 yuan.

The reporter found on multiple platforms that it is not uncommon to set thresholds for withdrawals, and it has also caused many complaints. "Obviously the benefits have been obtained, why does the platform restrict withdrawals?" This is the common voice of many users.

Li Jie, director of Beijing Guantao Zhongmao (Qingdao) Law Firm, told reporters that in the era of self-media, it has become more convenient for users to create content and obtain certain income, but Internet platforms and mobile apps often limit the amount of withdrawals, withdrawal methods and even frequency and time of withdrawals.

"It is understandable for the platform to set a withdrawal threshold in order to facilitate its own management and reduce cashier costs, but it cannot exceed a reasonable limit. Creators who choose to register as users of platforms or apps to create content need to agree to confirm the user agreement, revenue service agreement and other contracts, otherwise they will not be able to use the relevant functions. Li Jie said.

Li Jie further analyzed that by setting a withdrawal threshold to cover up its contractual obligation to pay relevant benefits to the user, and unreasonably restricting the user's withdrawal rights, the user can claim that the withdrawal threshold clause is not part of the contract. The fact that it is not part of the contract means that neither party is bound by this clause, and the internet platform needs to bear civil liabilities such as return of property and compensation for discount in accordance with the regulations.

In the investigation, the reporter found that some apps or platforms set the withdrawal conditions very difficult or impossible to meet, and users are often very passive in rights protection.

Ren Chao, a professor at the School of Economic Law of East China University of Political Science and Law, said that if platform users do not know that the withdrawal conditions set by the App or platform are actually difficult or impossible to achieve when signing a contract with the platform, whether it is the platform itself to deceive and mislead consumers through false or other improper means, or from the perspective of ordinary consumers, it is impossible to identify the difficulty of realizing the withdrawal conditions. If various incomes such as user resources also earn commissions for themselves but cannot be withdrawn, it has actually constituted fraud against consumers and harmed the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.

"The standard clauses themselves are drafted by the platform party, and most of the platform parties have chosen the platform party in the agreement with the user, and the platform party reserves the right to unilaterally modify and change the content of the contract, which makes the content of the contract terms uncertain. The user can only make a general consent when signing the contract, and in the event of a dispute, the initiative of interpretation is in the hands of the platform, which puts the user at a disadvantage. Ren Chao said that when there is a dispute over the standard terms, consumers should actively claim their rights, and they can first communicate with the platform party, and if the communication fails, they can complain to the local market supervision department or consumer association, which is very convenient to complain online, or they can choose to file a lawsuit in the people's court.

Recently, the topic of "the balance of less than 100 yuan cannot be withdrawn is an overlord clause" has been on the hot search. Originally, the Guangzhou Internet Court heard a dispute over a network service contract arising from the withdrawal of remuneration from a content creation platform, and held that "the balance greater than or equal to 100 yuan can only be applied for withdrawal" was a standard clause, and the clause was invalid. The court pointed out that the platform involved had unilaterally neglected to assume the platform's obligation to pay profits to the user after the withdrawal time and frequency standard, and also imposed a limit on the withdrawal amount standard, and did not provide the user with a withdrawal channel or other alternative compensation methods after the account was cancelled, which unilaterally neglected to assume the platform's obligation to pay the income to the user, and unreasonably restricted the user's right to freely dispose of his personal property.

Ren Chao believes that the withdrawal threshold set by relevant platforms and apps should adhere to the principle of fairness and not exceed reasonable limits. For example, at present, many Internet platforms have set restrictions on the time and frequency of withdrawals, so they can no longer superimpose the threshold of limiting the minimum amount of withdrawals, which is beyond a reasonable limit, blindly reducing their obligations to pay relevant benefits to users, and restricting the withdrawal rights of the other party, which is easy to constitute invalid standard terms. At the same time, the platform party cannot use withdrawal as bait to set or modify the relevant content into a withdrawal requirement clause that cannot be realized at all after signing the contract, which will constitute fraud to consumers.

"Relevant internet platform industry associations should also discover such overlord clauses in a timely manner, and not allow the act of superimposing the minimum withdrawal amount to become an industry practice, which will make users lose the possibility of seeking fair terms from other platforms and damage consumers' right to make their own choices. Ren Chao said that at present, according to the terms of most Internet platforms on the withdrawal threshold, the only way for users to withdraw cash in their accounts that are less than the minimum withdrawal threshold is to continue to perform the contract, and if the account is cancelled, the balance will be automatically cleared. Therefore, parties should also actively seek alternative ways to set up users to access the balance in their accounts.

Column Editor-in-Chief: Zhao Hanlu Text Editor: Dong Siyun Source of the title map: Shangguan title map

Source: Author: Rule of Law Daily