Research On The Legal Regulation Of False Health Treatment Advertising On The Internet

The rapid development of the Internet has made it one of the largest media,together with magazine,newspapers,radio and television.What followed the prevalence of internet is the emergence of online advertising.After its long-term development and continuous update,online advertising has touched every corner of our life.Among the vast online ads,the health treatment ads that present information of health institutions and medical services are common.Because of the extensive online audience,it is reasonable for private hospitals to compete against larger public hospitals with online ads.To pursue economic profits,private hospitals often take measures such as sending advertising emails to potential patients and bidding for online rankings.Unfortunately,due to lack of legal supervision,false and unreal information that misleads patients often appears on these online ads,which may cause damage and loss to the welfare of patients.In order to regulate the online advertising market,in July 2016 the State Administration for Industry and Commerce announced the "Interim Measures for Internet Advertising"(IMIA)which defines the Internet as an advertising media and defines responsibilities of Internet service providers.IMIA and the other one,"medical advertising management approach” that was announced in 2015,are the two most effective regulations in the market of online health treatment ads.Nevertheless,these two new regulations might still be improved due to legislative omissions and legal language ambiguity,coordination problems with each other,and coordination problems with other relevant laws and regulations.This paper attempts to study the existing laws and regulations related to online health treatment ads,draw lessons from other countries that are experienced in regulating online advertising market,and provide suggestions to potential improvements in the current regulations of China.This paper is organized as follows:Introduction reviews domestic and foreign literature related to online health treatment ads and describes motivation and methodology of this work.Part 1 gives an overview of the legal regulation in the market of online health treatment ads.It defines the concept of false online health treatment ads,analyzes the differences between false ads and other ads,and discusses the theoretical basis and necessity of legal regulations in relevant markets.Part 2 investigates the current legislation,law enforcement,judicature and self-discipline in the market of online health treatment ads,and brings out potential problems of the current regulations and laws.Part 3 studies experiences of other countries in regulating the online health treatment ads,which may provide lessons on reforms and improvements of China's regulations.Part 4 links other countries experiences to China's reality and takes suggestions to potential improvements of legal regulations in the market of online health treatment ads.Conclusion summarizes this work.