Recently, the video blogger "Thurman Cat Cup" (referred to as Cat Cup) with tens of millions of fans was suddenly blocked on multiple platforms, involving a video about "picking up elementary school student Qin Lang in Paris and losing his homework book" in February this year.
Some people didn't understand the incident, some people insisted that "the Internet is not a place outside the law", and some bloggers commented that "the incident is rooted in the fear of losing traffic on Internet celebrities".
On April 12, the Xihu District Branch of the Hangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau issued a police report on the Maoya incident. On the same day, the Zhejiang Provincial Market Supervision Bureau held a special deployment meeting to fully deploy the province's special governance of violations of laws and regulations in online live marketing.
Cao Lei, director of the E-commerce Research Center of the Network Economic Society, said that Hangzhou, as the "base camp" of the national live broadcast, has gathered well-known live broadcast institutions such as worry-free media, Qianxun, Xinxuan, and Yuanwang. If the special governance work is successfully carried out in Zhejiang Province and creates a clean and upright online live broadcast environment, it can also play a good demonstration role for the whole country.
The ins and outs of the cat cup incident
According to the content of the police report of the Xihu District Branch of the Hangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau, recently, the public security organs found and received reports from netizens that a self-media account posted a video on the Internet of "picking up the lost homework book of primary school student Qin Lang in Paris, France", which is suspected of spreading Internet rumors. The public security organs carried out investigations in accordance with the law.
After investigation, in order to attract fans and drain traffic, netizen Xu Moumou (female, 29 years old, online name "Thurman Cat Cup") and his colleague Xue Moumou (male, 30 years old) jointly planned and fabricated a series of video scripts of "Picking up the lost homework book of primary school student Qin Lang", and then purchased winter vacation homework books online, took selfies with mobile phones, made relevant videos, and spread them to multiple online platforms, causing a bad impact. At present, the public security organs have imposed administrative penalties on Xu, Xue and their companies in accordance with the law.
On February 15, Mao Mou said in the video that he would take the homework book he picked up back to China and hand it over to Qin Lang's children. The video sparked heated discussions among netizens, and later, an account that called himself "Uncle Qin Lang" @杨柏yi appeared in the comment area and said, "Qin Lang, my nephew, Xichang Primary School, class 8 a year, thank you, kind-hearted people, nephew's happy time is always short-lived." Subsequently, Yang Baiyi also posted a video of himself going to the bookstore to purchase teaching books for his nephew.
On February 18, the staff of Jiangsu Hai'an Xichang Primary School responded to the outside world that there were no students named Qin Lang, and there were only 4 classes in the first grade. At the same time, netizens found schools with the same name "Xichang Primary School" in Luoyang, Henan, Beihai, Guangxi and other cities outside Jiangsu, but the staff also responded to the outside world that there was no incident in the school that "student Qin Lang lost his homework book in Paris".
When the network traffic reached its peak, Yang Baiyi, who called himself "Uncle Qin Lang", conducted a live broadcast and responded to netizens' questions, saying "I am here to rub traffic, everyone is welcome to report". Subsequently, Yang Baiyi's videos were all deleted, and the account was banned from following for violating the platform's community regulations.
As the heat of the incident intensified, on February 19, Mao Mou released a video again, saying that he had never said that Qin Lang was a student of a certain elementary school, and that it was written on the winter vacation homework which elementary school it was, but because it involved privacy, it was not announced in the video, and Qin Lang's mother has been contacted, and the incident has been "successfully concluded".
However, the police investigation did not stop, Zhao Zhichao, captain of the Internet Police Brigade of the Xihu District Bureau of the Hangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau, told CCTV News that after the case was filed, the relevant primary school students who met Qin Lang's age group were investigated, and there was no situation that matched the relevant Qin Lang primary school students leaving the country, which further strengthened our confidence (that we believe) that the video was suspected of online rumors.
Xuan Jing, an instructor of the Cyber Police Brigade of the Xihu District Bureau of the Hangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau, said that one wrong step and one wrong step, (Mao Cup) later said in a dialogue with the police that he thought the heat was too high. Xuanjing said that although the social harm caused by the so-called joke is not as serious as the consequences of harming the national interests caused by rumors, there is no difference between them and the essence of rumors, and the two are only different in degree.
The business organization and the interests behind the traffic
With tens of millions of fans, Mao's Cup is not a personal operation, and there is a complete MCN business chain behind it.
Tianyancha information shows that Maoya is associated with 5 companies, of which 4 are in a state of existence, including Guangzhou Herman Network Technology Co., Ltd., Thurman Network Technology (Guangzhou) Co., Ltd., Guinea Pig Mi Niu (Shenzhen) Investment and Development Co., Ltd., etc. Tianyan atlas information shows that through direct or indirect shareholding, Maoya has actual control over a number of enterprises. Among them, Guangzhou Herman Network Technology Co., Ltd. has applied for the registration of more than 10 "Thurman cat cups" trademarks, most of which have been successfully registered, and the international classification includes button zippers, kitchen sanitary ware, metal materials, etc.
In addition, Mao Cup also has a cooperative relationship with an MCN organization called Daogu Yujia, which cited the co-creator Mao Cup as an example in the promotion article, saying that after the company started overseas operation of the Mao Cup account, YouTube and Facebook began to make money within three months. After half a year of operation, the number of YouTube followers reached 290,000 and the number of Facebook followers reached 190,000.
According to the introduction of the official account of Daogu Entertainment Plus MCN, Daogu Entertainment Plus MCN was established in 2016 and is an Internet enterprise dedicated to building a diversified communication matrix for the industry, mainly engaged in short video creation, talent cooperation introduction, talent business cooperation, business cooperation and IP derivation and other business modules, and is also a content supplier for Youku, iQiyi, Douyin, NetEase and Station B.
It is reported that the MCN agency behind the cat cup will also be punished, but as of now, there has been no relevant public information disclosure. Zhao Zhanzhan, a lawyer at Beijing Jiawei Law Firm and a special researcher at the Intellectual Property Research Center of China University of Political Science and Law, told the CBN reporter that publishing false content is an act directly engaged in by the anchor, and usually there is no direct relationship between the action and the MCN agency, and the MCN agency usually does not bear the corresponding legal responsibility for the anchor's behavior. For example, the regulatory authorities will impose administrative penalties on online celebrity anchors, but will not directly punish MCN institutions. However, if the MCN organization has settled in a live streaming platform or has a corresponding contractual relationship with a certain platform, then the MCN organization must comply with the platform rules and contract terms. If the institution violates relevant regulations, including supporting and encouraging relevant anchors to engage in violations of platform rules, the platform may impose penalties in the nature of liability for breach of contract on the MCN institution that breaches the contract, such as banning the MCN institution or restricting the flow of the MCN institution.
Zhao Zhanzhan suggested that Internet celebrity anchors and MCN institutions should abide by the laws and regulations and platform rules, and unscrupulous means, publishing false information, or engaging in other illegal acts for the sake of traffic or economic interests need to pay the corresponding price, and the traffic they chase will eventually lose their practical significance.
Previously, the "hard life" of the elderly and children in Liangshan, Sichuan, and the "stock video" released by the "reader girl" also attracted attention from the outside world. In March, the first-instance verdict of the Sichuan "Liangshan Mengyang" and "Liangshan Aze" and other online celebrity live streaming cases was announced, involving a number of Internet celebrities and heads of MCN companies, who were sentenced for false publicity and sales of fake and shoddy products. Accumulating followers and traffic on short video platforms through illegal means is no longer feasible, and the corresponding laws and regulations are gradually improving.
On July 10, 2023, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) issued the Notice on Strengthening the Management of "Self-Media", putting forward relevant requirements for "strengthening the management of MCN institutions affiliated to self-media". Article 11 mentions that for MCN institutions that use contracted accounts to engage in hype and repeatedly violate the rules, the website platform shall take measures such as suspending profit-making authority, restricting the provision of services, and retiring from entry.
At the same time, the platform should also play a corresponding supervisory role. Article 12 of the Notice shows that website platforms should promptly discover and strictly deal with violations of "self-media". "Self-media" that produce and publish rumors, stir up hot social incidents, or publish or disseminate illegal or negative information in a matrix manner, causing a vile impact, are to be shut down, included in the platform's blacklist account database, and reported to the internet information departments.
Continue to improve the online live broadcast marketing environment
As reminded by the Xihu District Branch of the Hangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau, the Internet is not a place outside the law, and the public security organs will resolutely crack down on illegal and criminal acts that maliciously hype, fabricate, and spread online rumors or false information to disrupt public order.
On the afternoon of April 12, the Zhejiang Provincial Market Supervision Bureau held a special deployment meeting to implement the spirit of the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection and the Provincial Supervision Commission's 2024 Provincial Special Governance Work Deployment Meeting on Ignoring the Infringement of the Interests of the Masses, and comprehensively deploy the province's special governance work on online live marketing violations of laws and regulations.
The specific goals of the work are: by the end of 2024, the online live broadcast marketing environment will be clearer, and 300 provincial-level "green live broadcast rooms" will be cultivated and guided; the supervision efficiency of online live broadcast will be more optimized, and a main database of 100,000 active live broadcast rooms above the middle and waist level will be established in the province, and no less than 100,000 live broadcasts will be monitored throughout the year; the online live broadcast consumption environment will be more assured, and the verification and disposal rate of clues on violations of laws and regulations will be 100%; the development of the online live broadcast economy will be stronger, and more than 10,000 people will be trained for various e-commerce talents.
For the multi-department rectification of the network chaos in Zhejiang Province, Li Min, a special researcher at the E-commerce Research Center of the Network Economic Society and a senior partner of Shanghai Hansheng Law Firm, analyzed that the special governance of online live marketing violations is of great significance. On the one hand, for platforms, live streaming is one of their main businesses, and special governance will help regulate market order, purify the online live broadcast environment, and enhance the reputation and trust of the platform. Addressing violations of laws and regulations can also reduce legal risks and reduce the likelihood of penalties and compensation.
Secondly, for MCN institutions, special governance helps to establish a sound operational norms and regulatory mechanism, improve the overall compliance level of the industry, and can also enhance the image and reputation of MCN institutions, attracting more high-quality anchors and partners. For consumers, special governance can protect the rights and interests of consumers. Violations of laws and regulations in online livestreaming marketing include false advertising, fraudulent sales, and infringement of consumer privacy, and special governance can reduce the harm of these negative behaviors to consumers and improve consumers' shopping experience and sense of security.
Li Min believes that online live broadcast involves many industries and fields, and there are various violations of laws and regulations, and it is real-time and immediate, and the regulatory authorities are facing great difficulties in supervision. In addition, with the rapid development of online live streaming technology, violations of laws and regulations are constantly evolving and mutating, and the technical challenges faced by the governance of violations of laws and regulations are greater.
According to the monitoring data of the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Commerce, there are currently 32 comprehensive and vertical head live broadcast platforms in Hangzhou, with nearly 50,000 anchors, and more than 5,000 live broadcast-related enterprises have been registered, ranking first in the country.
Chen Hudong, a special researcher at the E-commerce Research Center of the Network Economic Society, believes that live consumption is actually a relatively new consumption model, and there will be a lot of new situations and new problems, such as consumer personal information protection, consumer rights and interests protection, dispute resolution, order swiping, tying and other methods. Supervision can neither be a one-size-fits-all approach, nor can it unilaterally consider one aspect of the problem, but should be considered comprehensively and fully find a balance mechanism among consumers, platforms, MCN institutions, and even anchors and live broadcast operators, which is the difficulty and focus of supervision.
(This article is from Yicai)