Research On The Legal Regulations Of Endorsement Advertisement In The Network Environment

Endorsement advertisement is a commercial marketing method that makes full use of consumers’empathy or trust to achieve marketing goals.In the Internet age where information technology is highly developed,information sharing tends to be common,and network marketing is changing with each passing day,endorsement advertisement brings huge economic benefits while also due to the lack of effective legal regulations has also led to“social public figures using the trust of fans to incorporate hidden commercial speech on social platforms such as Weibo and WeChat,fake user comments in e-commerce shopping,webcasting,and serious misleading and damaging consumption,leading to disorders such as disrupting the order of market competition.The digital structure,social relations and social resource network of the network society have profoundly changed the morphological characteristics of endorsement advertisement.It leads to new challenges in advertising management and risk prevention and control.The traditional legal regulation model is facing an embarrassing situation of being unable to deal with risk issues.In view of this,an in-depth study of the legal issues of endorsement advertising in the network environment has important theoretical and practical significance.The new characteristics of endorsement advertisement in the network environment include the following aspects:endorsers show a diversified trend,there is a special virtual trust relationship between endorsers and consumers,endorsement advertisement is highly dependent on the Internet as a communication medium,the expression of endorsement advertisements is becoming increasingly diversified,daily and hidden,increased risk of audience judgment bias and so on.Based on the multi-method legal relationship of endorsement advertisement in the network environment,we believe that the special requirements of endorsement advertisement in the network environment in terms of legal regulations are reflected in:the dual structure of"transaction behavior-propaganda behavior" leads to increased demand for fulfilling the obligation of authentic recommendation,the special infringement relationship of endorsement advertisements has led to an increase in the protection needs of consumers for reasonable trust,the conflict between public interest and individual rights has increased the need to avoid excessive regulation.This article systematically combs the current legal status and practice status of endorsement advertisement in the domestic network environment,including the current status of legislation at the central level,the current status of legislation at the local level,as well as the current status of administrative law enforcement,judicial status,and network platform autonomy.At the level of legislative norms,legislative norms are mainly embodied in two adjustment paths,"extended" and "improved".At the level of administrative law enforcement cases,it roughly includes three types of endorsement advertisements suspected of engaging in special areas of advertising,suspected of engaging in fraudulent advertising,and suspected of fictitious endorsements.At the level of judicial cases,there are roughly two types of false endorsements involving citizens’ life and health rights and the types of false endorsements not involving citizens’ life and health rights.Regarding the self-regulation of network platforms,the content generally includes preventive measures for false endorsement advertisements,requirements for the identification of false endorsement advertisements,and responsibilities and punishments for false endorsement advertisements.In my country’s judicial practice,there are some problems as follows:the current logic of legal regulation cannot meet the actual needs of social pluralistic co-governance,the existing legal system structure cannot adapt to the strong regulatory requirements of the real recommendation obligation,the current liability mechanism cannot meet the regulatory needs to protect consumers’ reasonable trust,the existing legal framework lacks a flexible system design that balances interests,defects in the existing legal implementation mechanism have led to poor consumer rights protection and so on.Next,this article analyzes the legal regulations of endorsement advertising in the network environment of the United States,the European Union and Chinese Taiwan,and summarizes the following useful experience:realize the organic combination of offline advertising regulatory model "copy-type application" and "improved application",pay attention to the use of mandatory information disclosure methods,improve safeguards for the authenticity of advertising content,construct a diversified regulatory body mechanism.Finally,this article puts forward the ideas for perfecting the laws and regulations of endorsement advertisement in the network environment,including:First,explore the logic of legal regulation that conforms to actual needs,such as realizing the transformation from a"government control type" to a "multiple coordination type" regulation concept,such as clarifying the rights and responsibilities of the diversified regulatory bodies,realizing the integration and complementarity of empowerment principles and legal paternalism principles.Second,strengthen the necessary legal safeguards for the authentic recommendation obligation of endorsers,such as improving the supervision mechanism for the implementation of the authentic recommendation obligation in the field of user evaluation,improving the in-event regulatory procedures for the hidden commercial speech of public figures,accurately defining the standard of distinction between true endorsements and false endorsements.Third,build a legal liability investigation mechanism that protects consumers’ reasonable trust,such as incorporating new types of endorsements such as implicit commercial speech and user false comments into the scope of legal adjustment,refining civil liability standards for accountability of behavior,amending the law to improve the administrative legal responsibility and criminal responsibility investigation mechanism,improving the standards of punitive damages and accountability in civil liability.Fourth,establish an interest balance mechanism that takes into account social public interests,industrial development and individual rights,such as reasonably determining the scope of protection of commercial speech;and optimizing the legal norms of joint liability of endorsers.Fifth,improve the legal implementation mechanism of "reasonable power distribution and smooth legal remedies",such as constructing a regulatory power allocation pattern of "departmental coordination,social sharing,and platform responsibility";and optimizing the legal relief methods for consumer rights protection.