While the impact of online consumption on the lives of Chinese people is rapidly expanding, the protection of consumer rights and interests in this area is becoming increasingly prominent. At a recent symposium organized by the China Consumers Association (CCA), it was found that consumers’ legitimate rights and interests are being widely violated by e-commerce platforms.
According to a release from the China Consumers Association on Thursday (Jan. 7), algorithm application problems involving consumer rights in the online space are grouped into six categories, with recommendation algorithms being the one involving the most consumer complaints. E-commerce companies monitor and analyze consumers’ consumer trajectories, such as pages viewed, advertisements, goods and services, and topics, in order to target commercial marketing to consumers.
The association noted that such recommendation algorithms use consumers’ data portraits to implement so-called accurate pushing. Many consumers mistakenly believe that what they see is no different from the next person, resulting in insufficient information and choice. Some operators push the content of goods and services through algorithmic applications even against the law and public order and morality.
Another problem mentioned by the China Consumers Association is that large platform companies have problems with online game lottery probabilities that are unknown, big data that kills familiarity, and complicated rules for online consumer promotions. The association noted that these problems involve the application of algorithm technology by Internet platforms.
The China Consumers Association pointed out that the problems with price algorithms are manifested in the fact that some operators use algorithms for price discrimination, as shown by, first, setting different prices for new and old users, with member users instead being more expensive than regular users. Second, different prices are set for consumers in different regions. Third, users who visit the page multiple times may face price increases. Fourth, they use complicated promotion rules and algorithms to implement price confusion settings to attract consumers who have difficulty calculating the true price. These types of algorithms cause selective targeting harm.
The other four types of algorithms complained about are, evaluation algorithms, ranking algorithms, probability algorithms and traffic algorithms. They all suffer from misleading, swaying consumer decisions and affecting fair competition.
The rise of various online consumption has given rise to a new economic system – the platform economy. The platform economy is an umbrella term for economic and social activities driven by digital platforms.
The association says that some common unfair algorithmic applications in the online consumer space are technical and insidious in nature, subliminally influencing consumer purchase decisions, which are difficult for consumers to counteract through individual power. This can make consumers face data algorithm squeeze, become the object of technical bullying, and even by the algorithm distorted values and moral concepts, and become the platform operator’s palm “plaything”.
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