Verify livestream accounts to protect consumers

Recently, when closing a purchase order via livestream, my sister was cheated again, the product quality was not as promised by the seller. When she contacted the seller again, the phone was blocked.

Recently, many people have lost money and been "angry" about buying poor quality products when shopping online on social networks.

In fact, shopping via livestream on social networks and e-commerce sites is a trend chosen by many consumers. Platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, Shopee... all provide livestream features, helping sellers interact directly with customers and introduce their products in a realistic and vivid way. This form of sales is becoming more and more popular, but livestream shoppers still encounter many problems such as information theft, buying fake goods, counterfeit goods, goods of unknown origin, etc.

The mixing of counterfeit, fake, poor quality goods, goods of unknown origin or products that are not as advertised or committed by some sellers causes disadvantages for consumers.

In particular, towards the end of the year, many warehouses of counterfeit and smuggled goods were destroyed by authorities while they were livestreaming to sell goods.

In Hai Duong, on November 8, the Market Management Department of Hai Duong province suddenly inspected 2 households selling cosmetics and beauty products in the province, including the personal Facebook account "Thuy Huong (Guangzhou wholesale warehouse)"; Zalo account "Thuy Huong"; TikTok Shop "Thuy Huong Shop". At the time of inspection, the authorities discovered 2,304 tubes of SVMI foundation, 30 ml/tube, and 11,000 eyelash curlers of unknown origin with a total value of 45 million VND.

Previously, in early October, in Hanoi, the e-commerce team under the Market Management Department inspected a warehouse with signs of smuggling at the Eco Green apartment building, which was sold by a TikToker with more than 4 million followers who regularly livestreamed on the e-commerce platform TikTok and Facebook. The inspection team temporarily seized more than 10,000 bottles of perfume with brands such as True Love, First Love, Mon Paris, Maiden, Karri... of unknown origin.

It can be seen that counterfeit and fake goods sold on TikTok, Facebook... are very diverse and difficult to detect, because the images and product information provided on the sales pages are real. The sellers often do not have stores, so it is difficult for the authorities to check and handle. For consumer goods, food, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals... counterfeiting, not ensuring quality also directly threatens the health of consumers. When the subjects post images and information of real goods online, but when customers receive them, they may be fake or counterfeit goods that are difficult for customers to detect.

Recently, the Government issued Decree 147/2024/ND-CP on the management, provision and use of internet services and online information. Accordingly, livestreaming accounts selling goods on social networks must use citizen identification numbers for authentication, instead of only authenticating via phone number or email as before. This applies to all cross-border social networking platforms such as TikTok, Facebook, YouTube and other platforms with users in Vietnam. The above regulation takes effect from December 25, 2024.

This account verification is intended to protect consumers from fraudulent behavior, while creating transparency and increasing seller accountability. Unverified accounts will not be able to perform activities such as posting articles, commenting, livestreaming or sharing information.

Like many other regulations, initial difficulties and problems are inevitable when first implemented. Livestream account authentication may increase administrative procedures for creators and sellers. However, this is also an opportunity to build a community of honest sellers and protect online businesses from bad actors.

Authentication by citizen identification also helps create a safer online environment, reduce fraudulent behavior and protect consumer rights. Social media platforms such as TikTok, Facebook... need to deploy easy-to-use authentication tools to help users comply with regulations with less difficulty.

Every online seller needs to comply with the process of personal information transparency, improve ethics and responsibility towards consumers. This is also a way to build a sustainable brand and reputation with customers.