E-commerce platform SMS marketing is "drawn a red line"! Ministry of Industry and Information Technology: It shall not be sent without the consent of the consumer

Dahe Newspaper reporter Kang Yafei

Limited quantity, rapid booking, double 11 rush to buy, receive discount roll full reduction... Before the official arrival of the shopping carnival "Double Eleven", the pre-sale promotion activities have been launched on October 20, but with it is the "indiscriminate bombardment" of more than dozens of SMS marketing every day. In response to the problem of marketing SMS harassment that the people have strongly complained about, the Information and Communication Administration of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology recently held an administrative guidance meeting to regulate the SMS marketing behavior of e-commerce platforms. Alibaba, JD.com, Pinduoduo, Meituan and other major e-commerce platform enterprises, as well as representatives of related basic telecommunications enterprises and short message service enterprises attended the meeting.

On the eve of the "Double Eleven", e-commerce promotion through advertising and other means, in fact, as long as it does not harm the interests of consumers, there is nothing wrong with it, but in recent years, the marketing spam SMS complaints during the "Double Eleven" promotion have shown a concentrated outbreak phenomenon, which seriously disturbs the people.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the relevant complaints of e-commerce platforms account for up to 90%, and a large number of related consumer finance spam complaints have been derived. In particular, the platform "defaults" that registered users agree to send promotional information directly, and platform merchants use platform rule loopholes to send marketing SMS, which are more prominent, obviously infringing on the rights and interests of consumers.

The meeting pointed out that curbing spam information and creating a clear communication environment is the specific practice of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to continue to promote "I do practical things for the masses". All major e-commerce platforms should face up to the existing problems, assume the main responsibility for the ecological governance of the platform, strictly abide by the relevant provisions of the E-commerce Law, the Civil Code, the Provisions on the Administration of Communication Short Message Services and other relevant provisions, conscientiously fulfill their commitments to operate telecommunications businesses in accordance with the law, strengthen self-restraint and self-management, and effectively protect consumers' right to tranquility.

Curbing the harassment of marketing SMS needs to start from the root cause, in this regard, the meeting put forward three requirements for the platform and related enterprises, one is that the e-commerce platform should immediately and comprehensively self-examine and self-correct the SMS marketing behavior of retail, finance and other related products, and must not send marketing SMS without the consent or request of consumers, improve the existing SMS marketing plan, and report the progress of the work in a timely manner to the industry authorities. Second, relevant basic telecommunications enterprises and short message service enterprises should immediately improve the management system and technical means, strengthen the management of SMS port access, standardize the use of SMS signatures, must not access illegal sublease resources, must not expand the scope of signature use, and promote normalized governance through "looking back". Third, the 12321 network bad and spam information report acceptance center should strengthen the acceptance of spam complaints, the transfer of clues, monitoring and analysis, etc., play a "weather vane" role, and report emerging problems in a timely manner.

Whether the regulations of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology can be implemented depends on whether the phenomenon of "Double Eleven" SMS marketing this year has been effectively curbed.

Source: Dahe News Editor: Hou Xiaoyong