Reflections On "Shielding Video Advertisement" From The Perspective Of Economic Law

In recent years,disputes in shielding video advertisements appear frequently,and the behavior of shielding video advertisements in China Internet industry has been controversial.Compared with the traditional competition cases,the competition disputes in the Internet field become more difficult to define.In China's current judicial practice,it is widely believed by the judicial organs that the behavior of shielding video advertisement violates the principle of business ethics and good faith in the general terms of Anti-unfair Competition Law.They are more inclined to protect the video website operators' current business model and vested interests.However,China's Anti-unfair Competition Law is not a simple business interests protection law,which takes the protection of market operators interests,consumer interests and social public interests as their legislative aim.So the judicial organs shall weigh and ponder the commercial interests of ad-blocking software operators,the freedom of competitive behavior and the interests of consumers.This paper analyzes the legitimacy of competitive behavior and the protection of consumers' autonomy from the perspective of the proportionality principle.It is believed that the behavior of shielding video advertisements conforms to the three sub-principles in the proportionality principle,that is,appropriateness,necessity and narrow sense proportional principle.Besides,this behavior belongs to the legitimate competitive behavior,which Is not a serious threat to video websites' business interests existence.What's more,the identification of shielding video advertisements' legitimacy reflects the respect for the self-choice right the consumers enjoy in the Internet service.And it provides the possibility of bettering browsing experience.These conform to the requirements of Consumer's Interest Protection Law.This paper also offers some suggestions about new system and model based on consumer choice to achieve double-win of video websites' commercial value and consumer interests.