Weixin Channels Live Marketing Information Publishing Standards

Update Date: Thursday, April 29, 2021

Effective Date: Thursday, April 29, 2021

The Weixin Channels Live Marketing Information Publishing Standards (the "Standards") were formulated by Tencent as a supplement to the Weixin Channels Live Conduct Standards according to applicable laws and regulations, the Weixin Channels Operation Standards, the Weixin Channels Live Feature Terms of Use, and the Weixin Channels Live Conduct Standards in order to maintain a good cyber environment, protect the legitimate rights and interests of users, and improve the user experience.

1. Scope of Application

These Standards are intended to be binding any host or co-streaming user (hereinafter collectively referred to as the "Host") who publishes marketing information during live-streaming, including but not limited to livestream covers, titles, host names/profile photos, background images, background music, and the content presented or described by the host.

2. Publishing of Information

2.1 A host shall not publish any information about counterfeit or pirated copyright products.

2.1.1 Counterfeit products shall mean the products that imitate the original products by bearing the trademarks or logos that are identical to or substantially indistinguishable from the trademarks of the original products. Pirated copyright products shall mean any goods which are copies made without the consent of the right holders, including but not limited to books, e-books, audio-visual works, and software;

2.1.2 Without justified reasons, a host shall not hide or cover the information of items, or maliciously circumvent the platform's audit by intentionally concealing or covering the product information or by other means, such as covering or smearing trademarks or logos.

2.1.3 A host shall not help other hosts publish information about counterfeit or pirated copyright products through co-streaming or other interactions.

2.2 A host shall not publish any information about the items with safety hazards or quality defects, such as the items that do not meet the national quality standards, may cause damage to the personal or property safety, or have reached the shelf life limit).

2.3 A host shall not publish any marketing information prohibited by Weixin Channels, including but not limited to:

2.3.1 The information on the products prohibited from being sold or promoted according to applicable laws and regulations of the People's Republic of China;

2.3.2 The prohibited marketing information listed in the List of Marketing Information Prohibited by Weixin Channels Live Feature;

2.3.3 The information that goes against public morals or contains sensitive content.

2.4 For the safety of users' personal information and property, a host shall not promote any services of a third-party platform without permission by such means as sharing the QR codes or external links of such platform. A host shall not promote a product in a way that is not permitted by Weixin, including but not limited to leading users to offline transactions, redirecting users to another platform to make transactions, conducting transactions through bank cards, and other activities bypassing platform management.

2.5 A host shall not publish any marketing information that infringes on the legitimate rights and interests of others, including but not limited to:

2.5.1 The information that, without the authorization of the right holders, contains the trademarks, patents, written works, cartoon characters and derivatives, sports event logos/videos, performances, portraits, and other content of the right holders;

2.5.2 The content that plagiarizes the images or watermarks owned by others without the consent of owners;

2.5.3 The information that infringes on the legitimate rights and interests of others such as reputation right, goodwill right, and trade secrets;

2.5.4 The information involving unfair competition (such as the behaviors that confuse people and mislead people into believing that the marketing information is provided by or is in connection with others).

3. Livestreaming Conduct Standards

3.1 Inducements are not permitted. A host shall not use deceptive or misleading language, text, pictures, or units to mislead or persuade others to make purchases.

3.2 False advertising is not permitted.

3.2.1 A host shall introduce or present a product truthfully, and disclose all the information that should be known by consumers, such as defects.

3.2.2 A host shall not fabricate details (such as fabricating non-existent certifications or certificates), publicize products exaggeratedly (such as exaggerating product functions to an unreasonable extent by using expressions like "absolutely effective", "functional universal", "used for all purposes"), promote false marketing campaigns (such as using the expressions like "Officially Authorized by Tencent/Weixin/Channels" without the authorization of such service providers), make absolute claims about product advantages (such as using the expressions like "national", "top-level", "the best", "the most advanced", "best-of-the-breed"), or publish any information unrelated to the actual products; or expressly or implicitly convey any messages inconsistent with the content of actual products via oral communication, text or images to mislead users.

3.3 A host shall not use or disguisedly use the national flag, national anthem, national emblem, military flag, military anthem, or military emblem of the People's Republic of China, or publish any information in the name of or using the image of state organs and their workers.

4. Any activities disturbing the platform's normal operation are prohibited.

A host shall not disrupt the normal operation of the platform or seek illegitimate benefits by engaging in non-compliant activities, including but not limited to:

4.1 Hyping up products by creating publicity stunts. Hype and promote the content that goes against public morals and social values, including but not limited to: quarrels, unfaithful marriage, domestic violence, wealth flaunting, discrimination, fight inciting, pranks, spoofs, abuse, and sadfishing;

4.2 Publishing content that is easily mistaken for the content officially published by Tencent or Weixin;

4.3 Publishing content that is a personal attack on others, or exploits Weixin's brand reputation, which may create a negative impact on Weixin;

4.4 Circumventing the supervision and regulation of Weixin Channels in any manner;

4.5 Violating the principles of good faith and honesty to infringe on the rights and interests of users by improper means, such as fabrication or concealment of the basic facts of marketing information (creating or publishing false data including sales, reviews, or transaction amount) or malicious human or systematic intervention;

4.6 Infringing on the privacy of others. A host shall not publish or spread the private information of others without permission, or commit any acts suspected of infringing on the privacy of others. "Private information of others" generally includes the following two categories, depending on the specific scenarios:

4.6.1 Personal information: refers to all kinds of information recorded electronically or in other forms that identifies, relates to, or describes a natural person or the activities of such person when used alone or combined with other available information. Personal information includes name, date of birth, ID number, address, phone number, contact information, account password, property information, bank account number, credit information, movement records, health and physiological information, transaction information, online identity information (such as Weixin alias and Weixin account).

4.6.2 Personal sensitive information: refers to the personal information that, if leaked, illegally disclosed to others or abused, may endanger personal and property safety, lead to damages to personal reputation, harm physical/mental health, or cause discriminatory treatment for individuals, including facial recognition features (face images), communication records and content, precise positioning information, accommodation information, marriage history, and sexual orientation.

5. Violation of These Standards

In the event of any host's violation of any provision set forth herein, whether found by Tencent or reported by other users, Tencent has the right to cease the live streams by such host and delete the non-compliant content without prior notice, and take action against the host based on the severity of such violation, including but not limited to giving a warning, completely or partially discontinuing the provision of recommendation service, or suspending or permanently blocking the use of live streaming and commenting features or some or all Weixin and Channels features.

6. Updates to These Standards

These Standards are subject to changes and updates from time to time. To ensure a better user experience, Tencent may make amendments, revisions or supplements to these Standards as necessary in terms of any uncovered matters or new issues, or according to any updates of applicable laws and regulations or product operation requirements. It is therefore advised to visit our website regularly to keep you up-to-date with the information we release.

In case of any inconsistency and discrepancy between the Simplified Chinese version and English version of the Terms, the Simplified Chinese version shall prevail.

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Tencent Inc.