Consumer rights protection goes online as offline events falter

On Saturday, the day before the International Day for Protecting Consumers' Rights, the Shanghai Consumer Protection Commission roped in livestreaming celebrity Li Jiaqi for a campaign exploring new ways to protect and safeguard consumers' rights during the novel coronavirus outbreak.

Because of the epidemic and consumer protection organizations' wish to keep up with social media trends to provide better services to the public, the annual consumer protection campaign has moved online.

Fans called the livestreaming show by Li and a Shanghai Consumer Protection Commission official a "consumers' online course". Unlike his regular shows, where Li promotes goods, this time he and his co-host were showcasing how to purchase shoes for elders and air purifiers. During the campaign, the experts provided a useful purchase guide and answered audience queries. According to Taobao, the livestreaming attracted millions of viewers.

The campaign shows how new social media communication channels can help improve public services. In the internet era, new media, short videos and livestreaming are becoming major channels for consumers to obtain information.

During this epidemic, the Shanghai consumer protection authorities are actively taking advantage of new social media channels to educate consumers. And livestreaming is helping impart useful consumer-related information to a large number of people. Since livestreaming is a real-time communication channel, experts can quickly and easily access consumer feedback and directly address their queries. This model helps them better understand consumers' concerns and solve their problems.

- WANG YIQING, CHINA DAILY