Proposal to identify celebrities, KOLs livestreaming to sell products, jointly responsible for false advertising

Delegates proposed that celebrities, KOLs, and KOCs must be electronically identified before promoting or livestreaming to sell products, and be jointly responsible if the advertising information is incorrect.

Delegate Hoang Duc Thang - Photo: GIA HAN

On the afternoon of November 3, the National Assembly discussed in groups three bills, including the bill amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Statistics, the bill amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Prices, and the bill on E-commerce.

Livestream sellers must jointly take responsibility for compensation.

Delegate Dao Chi Nghia ( Can Tho ) said that livestreaming activities are currently developing very strongly, but also entails many risks of false information.

Therefore, he proposed adding a new clause to the bill's provisions on the responsibility of livestream sellers.

Accordingly, livestream sellers must be jointly responsible for compensating for damages caused by providing false or misleading information. The determination of compensation will be carried out in accordance with civil law.

Such regulations, according to Mr. Nghia, will increase responsibility and protect consumer rights when livestreamers perform activities related to online sales.

He also suggested that e-commerce platforms must take measures to "block livestreaming" of goods and services that are prohibited from advertising or require prior confirmation, especially items related to health and pharmaceuticals.

Delegates also proposed solutions to overcome difficulties in cross-border tax management.

Accordingly, the delegates proposed to add a point on the responsibility of payment service providers and payment intermediary services. These organizations are required to provide detailed data on cross-border payment transactions, including identification information of foreign beneficiaries as required by tax authorities.

"These will be very necessary solutions to overcome difficulties of the tax sector, reduce budget losses and ensure fair competition in e-commerce activities," Mr. Nghia emphasized.

Delegate Nguyen Thi Lan ( Hanoi ) said the bill has provisions on the responsibilities of platform owners and consumer protection. However, there are no specific provisions on identifying sellers or automatic complaint and refund mechanisms.

Meanwhile, the potential risk of selling counterfeit goods, fraud, and violating consumer rights on e-commerce platforms is still high, causing loss of trust and affecting the sustainable development of the market.

From there, she proposed adding regulations that e-commerce platforms must have an automatic complaint and refund mechanism, ensuring consumer rights when transactions are canceled, goods are not as described or there are signs of fraud...

At the same time, e-commerce platform owners need to be responsible for authenticating sellers' identities using electronic identification to ensure transparency and strengthen trust and reputation in Vietnamese e-commerce.

Delegate Trieu Thi Ngoc Diem - Photo: GIA HAN

Thoroughly prevent "KOLs assisting in counterfeiting" and advertising that deceives consumers

Delegate Hoang Duc Thang (Quang Tri) suggested that the drafting committee consider reviewing additional provisions related to livestream content, which has been a hot topic of public opinion recently.

These are cases where influencers, celebrities, and KOLs have been criminally prosecuted by authorities for livestreaming advertisements for products that are counterfeit, of unknown origin, or have incorrect uses, etc.

At the same time, it is necessary to supplement regulations on KOLs management, social network responsibilities, registration and specific sanctions to create a clearer and stricter legal corridor for Vietnamese e-commerce.

He said that it is necessary to combine the Advertising Law and the Consumer Protection Law to have a complete set of legal tools to thoroughly prevent the situation of "KOLs assisting in counterfeit goods" and misleading advertisements to consumers, contributing to building a healthy and sustainable e-commerce environment.

Delegate Trieu Thi Ngoc Diem (Can Tho) pointed out that a group of people plays a very important role in selling on e-commerce platforms, which are influencers, KOLs or KOCs.

According to the delegate, these characters currently appear a lot when making sales through e-commerce trading floors.

When people and viewers see KOLs and KOCs, they have a lot of faith because even at times when they are very stuck and pessimistic in life when they are sick or have problems, they see these livestream videos of famous people as a lifesaver.

From such analysis, she proposed that the draft law should also pay attention to this group. Specifically, the draft law needs to define and differentiate the concept, instead of using the word livestream.

She said livestreaming is just a sales method through direct sales on a livestreaming platform.

Meanwhile, if we use the term "seller through direct selling method" to include other objects, it will be more comprehensive and more complete in terms of object groups.

She proposed that the bill add a separate article on joint responsibility, because KOLs and KOCs are people who play a very important role, "especially in terms of the consequences when these advertisements are false, causing a huge impact on consumers."

Therefore, she suggested that KOLs and KOCs must be electronically identified before promoting or selling.

Must clearly state the advertising content, be responsible for goods and services, and be jointly responsible if the advertising information is different from the product profile of the poster.

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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/de-xuat-dinh-danh-nguoi-noi-tieng-kols-livestream-ban-hang-lien-doi-trach-nhiem-neu-quang-cao-sai-20251103173946983.htm