Xiaohongshu’s operational minefields are explained in one article!

In December last year, Xiaohongshu announced that the platform's monthly active users had reached 200 million, with the number of influencers on the site increasing by 222% year-on-year within a year, and the content shared covered 25 categories.

Xiaohongshu has become one of the traffic reservoirs, but it has also brought in many more pairs of supervisory eyes. It has been questioned by netizens and fined by regulatory authorities many times due to non-compliance incidents, and the App was even removed from the shelves within a short period of time.

How does the platform deal with such negative information? One major solution is to continuously strengthen content supervision. According to reports from multiple media outlets, as of now, Xiaohongshu has banned a total of 81 brands and offline merchants suspected of false grass-seeking, handled 172,700 false grass-seeking notes, and filed lawsuits against 7 notification platforms and MCN agencies involved in false grass-seeking.

From the blogger's perspective, novices may also violate regulations if they accidentally touch minefields or fail to understand the platform's judgment of sensitive advertising words.

In order to help new creators avoid risks, the editorial department of Xinbang has taken stock of some behaviors that the site has recently reminded of or explicitly prohibited, and summarized and interpreted them in combination with the policies and regulations issued by relevant departments.

1. Cosmetic content: Special cosmetics used for hair dyeing, perming, etc. are more strictly regulated

On March 5, "Commercial Advertising Potato" released a note reminding that because special cosmetics have specific functions and the functional ingredients they contain pose certain safety risks, the state's supervision of them is stricter than that of ordinary cosmetics. Such cosmetics must be strictly reviewed and approved by the national regulatory authorities and issued an approval number before they can be produced and sold. Bloggers who hope to promote and recommend such cosmetics in their notes need to be careful.

According to the "Regulations on the Supervision and Administration of Cosmetics" (hereinafter referred to as the "Regulations") issued by the State Food and Drug Administration, soaps with special cosmetic effects must apply for cosmetic registration and obtain a registration certificate.

Cosmetics used for hair dyeing, perming, freckle removal and whitening, sun protection, and anti-hair loss, as well as cosmetics claiming new functions are special cosmetics.

The Regulations will come into effect on January 1, 2021. Relevant provisions show that for cosmetics used for hair growth, hair removal, breast beautification, bodybuilding, and deodorization, a five-year transition period will be set from the date of implementation of the Regulations. During the transition period, they can continue to be produced, imported, and sold, but corresponding actions shall not be continued after the expiration of the transition period.

In addition, cosmetics advertisements on Xiaohongshu are not allowed to contain terms such as promoting "eyelash growth", "can grow thick and long eyelashes", "grow real eyelashes in 7 days", etc., and suggestive pictures are not allowed to appear.

The "Cosmetics Classification Rules and Classification Catalog" issued by the State Food and Drug Administration mentions 26 cosmetic functions, including freckle removal and whitening, oil control, moisturizing, etc., but does not mention related words such as "promoting eyelash growth".

The official account of the Shanghai Fengxian District People's Government once published an article stating that all mascara on the market that "promote eyelash growth" have not been approved, and these mascara do not have the effect of promoting eyelash growth.

II. Health care product content: Health food advertisements should clearly indicate "This product cannot replace medicine"

On March 21, "Commercial Advertising Potato" once again reminded that words such as promoting retinal development, promoting/improving/enhancing visual acuity, relieving constipation/bloating/diarrhea/abdominal pain, improving vision, improving sleep, and improving growth and development all involve health care/medical functions, and bloggers are advised to conduct self-examination before submitting their advertisements for review.

According to the relevant provisions of the Advertising Law of the People's Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as the "Advertising Law"), health food advertisements shall not contain the following content:

(1) Assertions or guarantees of efficacy or safety;

(2) involving disease prevention and treatment functions;

(3) Claiming or implying that the advertised products are necessary for protecting health;

(IV) Comparison with medicines and other health foods;

(5) Using advertising spokespersons to make recommendations or testimonials;

At the same time, Internet information service providers shall not publish health food advertisements in disguised forms such as introducing health and wellness knowledge. Health food advertisements shall prominently indicate "this product cannot replace medicine."

Currently, Xiaohongshu has about 270,000 notes related to "health products"

3. Medical beauty content: Tightened supervision and transformation of many private institutions’ accounts

A month ago, Xiaohongshu dealt with 279,000 medical beauty notes that violated regulations and cancelled the professional certification of private medical beauty institutions. Many medical beauty accounts were restricted, even dental accounts were among them. Account owners could only create new accounts and change the content direction.

On March 8, "Shu Guanjia" once again released a note stating that "medical beauty projects require caution" and stated that the credibility of medical beauty projects can currently be judged through channels or certificates such as the official website of the National Health Commission, physician qualification certificates, and physician practice certificates.

After the Chinese New Year, Xiaohongshu has repeatedly strengthened the management of medical beauty content on the site, and the scope for medical beauty bloggers to create has been further tightened. Currently, bloggers who can be searched on the platform and have a large number of fans are all doctors from public tertiary hospitals.

IV. Religious content: Promotion of tarot/horoscope/divination may violate regulations

Promoting religion and feudal superstition is a red line for many platforms, and Xiaohongshu is no exception.

The notes related to "Commercial Advertisement Potato" show that the following content can appear in Xiaohongshu notes:

Expressing personal subjective good wishes: such as "I just bought a popular necklace, I hope it can bring me good luck, I wish me good luck"!

Auspicious words related to traditional Chinese festivals: such as "New Year brings good luck" etc.

The following are violations involving feudal superstition:

Promoting religious or feudal superstitious products: such as amulets, talismans, luck charms, wealth-attracting jade, etc.

5. “Patent” content: missing information and incorrect names are both misleading publicity

On March 11, Xiaohongshu issued an announcement stating that the following types of content may involve patent mispromotion:

• Missing information: The customer owns a patent and it is within the validity period, but forgets to indicate the patent number and patent type in the material.
• Name error category: The customer owns a patent and it is within the validity period, but typos appear in the advertising, such as mistakenly writing "macromolecular essence extraction" as "Da Vinci Essence Extract Patent".
• False advertising: The client does not have a patent, but falsely claims to have "XX patented technology" or "XX patented method manufacturing".

Relevant provisions of the Advertising Law show that if an advertisement involves a patented product or patented method, the patent number and patent type must be indicated. Those who have not obtained patent rights shall not falsely claim to have obtained patent rights in advertisements. It is prohibited to use patent applications for which no patent rights have been granted and patents that have been terminated, revoked or invalidated for advertising.

Bloggers can log on to the official website of the National Intellectual Property Administration (https://www.cnipa.gov.cn/), find the "Government Services" section in the Government Services section, and click "Patent Examination Information Query" to verify the authenticity of the patent provided by the customer.

6. “Collection” content: Multiple product collections that are not real photos are not supported

Xiao Liu, a brand agency agent in the industry, said that the platform does not support collections of multiple products that are not real photos, and the content does not contain real product explanations or notes on usage experience.

She introduced that there are three common types of non-compliant notes:

• All the pictures in the notes are in the form of PPT posters from the Internet and cutouts , which are not authentic.
• In the above cases, different products are criticized by using recommendation indexes, ratings or other forms that clearly indicate good or bad;
• The notes deliberately use the form of big brands bringing up small brands to recommend extremely unknown and inferior brands.

Source: Interviewee

7. "Clickbait" content: Do not support titles that do not match the content or titles that first criticize and then praise.

Xiaohongshu does not support titles that are inconsistent with the content or that first criticize and then praise, such as "Don't buy XXX" or "I regret buying XXX", but the main content is a product recommendation rather than a complaint.

Titles containing some derogatory terms or having sexual associations are also prohibited.

However, under the note of "Commercial Advertisement Potato", many content creators said that what is popular are the clickbait titles, and they also feel helpless.

At present, Xiaohongshu has not punished or restricted the clickbait notes, but looking at the development trajectory of content creators in the industry, the long-term solution is to create content carefully and strive to attract audiences with more than just exaggerated titles.

8. “Absolute terms” content: misleading and exclusive terms are not supported

In addition, Xiaohongshu does not support absolute terms in note copywriting. A month ago, the platform announced the definition of absolute terms:

Therefore, it is not allowed to mention in an advertisement that a product is the "best" product on the market, has the "best quality" or the "most affordable price".

However, if the copy contains an expression of personal stance or business philosophy, it can be used in the advertisement, such as "This is the best lotion I have ever used", "I think this is the most suitable for my skin type", "Pursue the most perfect quality", etc.

In general, if the site's management of note titles and texts only stays at the warning or suggestion level, it will be difficult to serve as a warning to bloggers on the site, and there is still a long way to go to eliminate "title parties" and "absolute terms."

In addition, although Xiaohongshu has indicated the advertising attributes of the content itself by declaring partnerships and marking promotions, there are still some borderline and illegal operations among the various and endless UGC content, which is also the gray area of ​​the platform.

What other violations have you encountered? You are welcome to leave a message in the comment area to discuss and give each other tips.

Author:DX

Source: Newrank (ID: newrankcn)