Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

In recent years, with the continuous enrichment of network video content and the increasing diversification of equipment terminals, the video website platform "value-added service" is also full of tricks, resulting in a complex membership level. A few days ago, chaotic images of members of the video website platform frequently broke out, and iqiyi was in the limelight for protecting the rights of member users for a time.

At the beginning of January, many iqiyi gold VIP users found that the 4K definition that could be chosen before had become 480p overnight. If you want to improve the screen definition, you need to charge extra. For a time, "iqiyi restricted members to cast the screen" was reported by many users as "cutting leeks" and "eating ugly", and the incident was also formally filed by the Beijing Municipal Internet Court.

On February 2, iqiyi was exposed again that an annual fee member claimed that his account was blocked because he used three devices to log in at the same time, but jumped to the more expensive member interface when unblocking the account. Iqiyi said that this is due to being blocked due to exceeding the device limit, which can usually be unsealed by changing the password. This time, it is the technical reason that users jump to the wrong page when they click to unseal, and there is no need to recharge more expensive members to unseal.

Not only iqiyi, but also other video platforms are not alone. Youku also sparked controversy over similar membership issues. Some consumers report that the preferential activity interface that pops up when recharging Youku members will default to sign a contract for one year after paying 1 yuan, and 12 yuan will be deducted automatically every month except 1 yuan in the first month. If you withdraw in advance, you need to refund the discount according to the membership fee of 25 yuan per month. Although Youku said that the rules have been informed on the event interface, many consumers believe that in fact, the display of the activity rules is not clear, and that the default signing of an one-year contract should be a "bully clause".

Today, content payment has become an important business model and source of revenue for video platforms, and paying members of video platforms can enjoy exclusive content. But recently, there have been frequent disputes between consumers and the rights and interests of members of these high-flow video platforms. What is going on?

This also starts from the profit model of the video platform. There are no more than three profit models for video platforms: advertising, games and e-commerce. In recent years, the regulatory authorities have gradually tightened the supervision of open-screen advertising, so the video platform began to make efforts in member registration and other aspects, constantly increase the level of fees, reduce the rights and interests of members, and even engage in routine consumption, causing many user dissatisfaction.

Iqiyi needs to obtain the consent of the paying users to adjust the rights and interests of the paying users and make it clear by changing the user agreement. For paid users before and after the change of rights and interests, iqiyi is suspected of violating the Consumer Rights and interests Protection Law and harming the legitimate rights and interests of users by directly and unilaterally restricting or restricting the rights and interests of users without the consent of the users. For the new paying users after the change of rights and interests, if they do not make a significant prompt for the adjustment of the relevant rights and interests in the user agreement, there is also something inappropriate. " Said Li Junhui, a special researcher at the intellectual property Law Research Center of China University of political Science and Law.

These disputes have also attracted the attention of regulators. The Shanghai Consumer Protection Commission spoke out against iqiyi's practice of restricting screen casting and charging fees for App. Screen casting is a normal use scenario for mobile users. Consumers pay for it, and it is their right to watch it on the phone or watch it on the screen. The platform's practice of restricting consumers from throwing screens in App is unreasonable, and it is even more unkind to charge extra fees in this way. The video platform has no right to improperly obtain mobile phone rights to interfere with consumers using third-party App or connecting to the screen.

If you want to avoid these disputes, you should make consumers willing to pay for content. Therefore, the video platform should increase the income of users with more and better content and better consumer experience. "consumers need to get a good user experience in order to have a longer-term development of the video platform." Tao Xujun, director of the Digital competence Center of Nomura Comprehensive Research, said that the video website platform should strengthen self-discipline and adopt a sound attitude towards business design, rather than directly adjusting the rights and interests of fee households. Otherwise, even if it is finally judged to be legal, it will still not be recognized by consumers. This is not only for iqiyi, but also for other platforms.

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