The National Assembly listened to the presentation of the Report on explanation, acceptance and revision of the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Advertising.
National Assembly deputies expressed high consensus on the need to tighten the responsibilities of KOLs and celebrities when participating in advertising. At the same time, this amendment and supplement to the Advertising Law is expected to fill legal gaps, creating a clear and strict legal corridor that is still suitable for the dynamic development of the modern advertising industry.
Giving her opinion on the discussion, delegate Huynh Thi Phuc (Ba Ria - Vung Tau delegation) assessed the growing influence of KOLs, YouTubers, TikTokers, Facebookers, KOCs... in advertising activities. According to her, these are individuals and organizations that not only have a large number of followers but also have the ability to orient and lead public opinion.
“They experience and give comments mainly from a personal perspective but easily gain trust from customers, especially in marketing and brand promotion campaigns,” said Ms. Phuc.
However, the situation of false advertising, especially in the field of functional foods, essential consumer goods... is causing social outrage. Delegate Phuc said that the issue of false advertising has been questioned in at least two sessions of the 15th National Assembly. More worryingly, there are daily food products whose uses are also "exaggerated" without verification.
From that reality, delegate Huynh Thi Phuc suggested that in this law, along with regulations on the responsibilities of organizations and individuals doing business in advertising services, and those who deliver advertising products who are influential people, it is necessary to increase penalties for administrative violations in the field of advertising because of the direct impacts on people's health and lives.
According to delegate Huynh Thi Phuc, it is necessary to amend the Decree on administrative sanctions for violations in the field of advertising, increasing the level of fines to be sufficiently deterrent. At the same time, it is necessary to carefully review regulations on ethics, professional and legal responsibilities of influential individuals.
Delegate Trinh Xuan An, National Assembly Delegation of Dong Nai province, gave his opinion in the discussion.
Tighten regulations on "advertisers"
Sharing the same view, delegate Trinh Xuan An (Dong Nai Delegation) said that special attention should be paid to the concept of “advertising transmitter”, including “influencers” – a group that strongly influences consumer behavior but is currently not clearly defined in the law.
Citing a practical example, Mr. An stated: “The phenomenon of famous people such as beauty queens, singers, actors, even people who attract attention through scandals, with a large number of followers on social networks, participating in product advertising without any knowledge or expertise is now common.” This poses great risks and causes consequences for consumers.
Therefore, Mr. An proposed to clearly define the conditions and criteria for a person to be considered an “advertising broadcaster”, in the direction of having expertise or capacity related to the product or service. In addition, the delegate also proposed to clarify the rights and obligations of influencers in the law, instead of just general regulations as at present.
Delegate Tran Thi Thu Hang ( Dak Nong Delegation) added with recent specific examples such as fake milk advertising, "long se dieu" advertising, or cases related to famous KOLs such as Quang Linh Vlogs, Hang Du Muc... showing that the social network environment is becoming a "promised land" but also a "gray area" of false advertising activities. Controlling advertising content on digital platforms is currently facing many difficulties. Therefore, current and related legal regulations need to be improved, including amending the Advertising Law, which is very necessary.
"It is recommended to continue reviewing and evaluating limitations and shortcomings to plug legal loopholes regarding the responsibilities of relevant parties and handle violations of the law. In addition, some stricter sanctions are needed," the female delegate stated her opinion.
Delegate Tran Khanh Thu (Thai Binh delegation) also proposed to strictly handle cases of celebrities who advertise falsely, causing damage to consumers.
Delegate Thu cited recent incidents involving fake milk and fake functional foods. Accordingly, although the businesses producing these products have sufficient documents for inspection, testing, and product declaration, in reality, they are still identified by authorities as counterfeit goods.
“Thus, requiring singers, artists, celebrities or KOLs to check legal documents related to products is very difficult to implement in practice,” the delegate emphasized.
From this reality, delegate Tran Khanh Thu proposed to amend and supplement regulations to increase feasibility in establishing responsibility and compensation mechanisms when false advertising occurs, especially with influential subjects. She recommended considering adding joint liability for compensation to artists and celebrities if false advertising causes damage to consumers.
Previously, presenting a report on receiving, explaining and revising the draft Law, Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on Culture and Education Nguyen Dac Vinh said that, accepting the opinions of National Assembly deputies, the draft Law has added regulations on "people transmitting advertising products" with the aim of solving the practical problem of many subjects taking advantage of influential people to transmit false advertisements on the Internet, especially social networks, causing damage to consumers, and also regulating those who use direct forms of advertising transmission.
To perfect this term, taking into account the opinions of National Assembly deputies, the draft Law has clarified "advertising product transporter" to ensure practical coverage, compatible with the content of the interpretation of the terms "advertiser", "advertising service provider", "advertising publisher"; adjusting the term "advertising product transporter" in the direction of regulating 2 types of subjects: One is the person who directly advertises, recommends, and confirms products, goods, and services online; two is the person who directly advertises by wearing, hanging, attaching, drawing, using for profit purposes or other forms as prescribed by the Government.
For those who directly advertise online, the draft Law supplements and perfects the concept, not only "advertising" but also recommends and confirms. This is to avoid the case where the person who delivers the advertising product does not admit to the act of advertising but only admits to providing information about the product or service or stating his or her experience with the product or service to avoid being handled according to the law on advertising, causing difficulties for the inspection, examination and handling of violations by the State management agency...
Thu Giang
Source: https://baochinhphu.vn/siet-chat-trach-nhiem-kol-nguoi-noi-tieng-trong-hoat-dong-quang-cao-102250510115038073.htm
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