In the Internet era, the "post-90s" and "post-00s" who are busy with work, less communication and "atomized" survival often rely on various marriage and dating network platforms to find objects. Are these "cloud matchmakers" reliable? The in-depth investigation of the semi monthly reporter found that the online marriage and dating platform has deep marketing routines, many consumption traps and great difficulties in safeguarding rights, so it can be said that it is dangerous to find objects.
Making friends online "talking about feelings hurts money"
Ms. Zheng, a citizen of Foshan, Guangdong, registered a member on the marriage platform "marryu" in May. Soon the platform called her and told her that the boy who was interested in her wanted to arrange a meeting at no charge. As soon as she arrived at the store, Ms. Zheng was taken into a small room. "They took turns to create psychological pressure on me. They said that I was old and my conditions were ordinary. It was difficult to find my favorite object later. When I said I had no money, they said that many girls paid by instalments, hundreds of yuan a month, and found their object in a few months."
Ms. Zheng was fooled into a fever and paid 14300 yuan. "In less than a minute, they brushed the POS machine and then printed the contract for signature. There was no time to respond."
Ms. Zheng provides screenshots of the contract and payment signed by her
Banyuetan reporter joined a marriage refund group of more than 400 people. The members of the Group paid more than 80000 yuan and less than thousands of yuan on the marriage platform. Some people used up all their savings, and some people were fooled into paying with online loans because they didn't have enough money, but finally "people and money were empty".
On the black cat complaint platform, the semi monthly reporter searched with keywords, "century Jiayuan" complaints more than 4900, "baihe.com" complaints more than 1900, "zhenai.com" complaints more than 2300, "marryu" complaints more than 750, "my lord Liangyuan" complaints more than 1400. Complaints focused on false promises, deceptive consumption, guiding consumers to use credit cards or online loans for payment, high fees and difficult refunds.
According to reports, in 2021, the scale of China's Internet dating market reached 7.2 billion yuan, the number of Internet dating users exceeded 30 million, and the number of matchmaking related enterprises exceeded 20000. However, a market of this size is full of fish and dragons and pits.
Pit multi-channel insurance, difficult to protect rights
"Here are women chasing men", "no need to add friends to chat directly", "if you want voice, if you want video, if you want video", a dating website called "chat" has made such advertising language in multiple advertisements.
After the semimonthly reporter registered through the "chat" app as a male, he immediately prompted many women to chat up. There was no lack of ambiguity. When the reporter replied to the information, the recharge page will pop up. After completing the "daily recharge", multiple unfamiliar numbers will take the initiative to ask for voice and video chat. Video chat 159 gold coins / minute, voice chat 79 gold coins / minute, text message 8 gold coins / minute.
Screenshot of APP voice and video call prompt recharge
The reporter's investigation found that the complaints about "chatting" on multiple complaint platforms point to "luring consumption", "making friends fraud", "false routine" and so on. "This is a bottomless hole. You can only continuously recharge and brush gifts. Money should be used to pave the way for every interaction." A matchmaking employee told reporters that "making money by chatting" has developed into a gray industry, also known as "chatting and childcare". They have a complete training system and sharing mechanism. The task of "Chater" is to chat up actively and induce users to spend money to chat and brush gifts. "Making friends" is actually "paying money".
Online platform consumption pit multi-channel insurance, offline platform is also difficult to prevent. "As long as you pay 26600 yuan, you can get married within half a year." Mr. Yuan, who works in Dongguan, Guangdong Province, said that under the guidance of Hongniang, he completed the payment by swiping card and loan in the offline store of Shiji Jiayuan. "I brushed 10000 yuan, and they said that Shiji Jiayuan lent me the remaining 16600 yuan. If I didn't introduce a satisfactory girl, I didn't have to repay the loan. Then I found that they used my ID card to borrow money from the bank."
Screenshot of loan and payment records provided by Mr. Yuan to reporters
After consulting a number of materials and contracts, the reporter found that many promises of marriage agencies were not included in the contract. If consumers lack legal awareness, do not see the contract clearly, and do not retain and collect relevant evidence, it is very difficult to protect their rights afterwards. In the process of love, the object of making friends maliciously swindles and induces consumption. It is also difficult to define whether it is an ordinary emotional dispute or an illegal and criminal act. Some consumers can only give up safeguarding their rights and admit bad luck.
Personal information is almost streaking, and privacy security frequently steps on the red line
The value of the marriage and dating platform is to provide both parties with true and reliable dating information. In recent years, many platforms have been notified by the Ministry of industry and information technology for collecting personal information beyond the scope due to violations.
Banyuetan reporter contacted an organization engaged in app customization and development services on the grounds that he wanted to be a city dating app. The staff of the other Party promised that the developed application can be connected to the third-party payment system and can carry out real name and face recognition authentication. When the reporter asked whether he could view the chat records and browsing contents of members, the staff member said, "of course, the system will give it to you after it is finished. He didn't mention the boundary of personal information collection at all.
Ms. Li provided the reporter with a screenshot of the chat with the staff of Shiji Jiayuan
Banyuetan reporter tested a love and marriage app, showing that the personal information it collected includes name, age, telephone, real estate information, vehicle information, static or dynamic facial features, as well as communication records and content, accommodation information, web browsing records, accurate positioning information, etc. These detailed information can completely outline the "user portrait", so as to realize "precision marketing".
According to relevant regulations, the processing of personal information should have a clear and reasonable purpose and take the way that has the least impact on personal rights and interests. Zhang Wei, a founding partner and lawyer of Guangdong Xieyan law firm, said that the excessive collection of personal information by the platform for profit would seriously infringe on the legitimate rights and interests of consumers, such as the right to know, the right to fair trade and the right to information security.
In order to rectify chaos, we should not only self-discipline, but also heteronomy
The development of marriage and love platform will not only infringe on the healthy rights and interests of consumers, but also lead to the unhealthy development of the whole industry. Liu Junhai, a professor at the Law School of Renmin University of China, said: "if the platform can not be cautious and self disciplined, regulators must stand up and make good use of, use enough and use enough of the authority of market access, administrative guidance, administrative supervision and administrative punishment given by law."
In addition to consumers' need to continue to strengthen their awareness of self-protection, administrative supervision and justice must go hand in hand, eliminate regulatory blind spots, strengthen administrative penalties, increase illegal costs and reduce rights protection costs. Liu Junhai suggested that a public interest lawsuit be filed against the infringement of influential marriage and love websites across the country to protect consumers' rights at zero cost.
For user information security, Zuo Xiaodong, vice president of China Information Security Research Institute, said that relevant enterprises should protect users' personal information according to law and regulations, and the regulatory authorities should strengthen law enforcement to prevent the platform from playing a "marginal ball". Consumers should improve their awareness of rights and interests protection and evidence preservation. In case of infringement of their personal rights and interests, they should seek help from relevant departments and legal professionals in time.
Hu Zhanhong, head of Guangzhou Youth marriage and love service research center, believes that it is very important to establish a correct concept of marriage and love. Looking for a partner is to find a life partner, not to find a way to improve life. Only by constantly improving yourself can it be easier to meet the "best" life partner.