I first became aware of this issue 10 years ago, when I witnessed my grandmother’s experience with buying pharmaceutical products on social media, despite the objections of our family. She spent most of her savings on these products, resulting in family quarrels and even police involvement. This deeply personal experience has since fueled my ongoing interest in researching this topic.
The story of my grandma
I interviewed my grandmother, and she told me about her experience ten years ago. At that time, the Internet was not as widespread in China as it is now, and there were no smartphones that could access the Internet at all times. So, at that time, telemarketing, leaflet distribution, and newspaper publicity became the main means of publicity for these ‘health supplement companies’. My grandmother was attracted by the advertisements placed in the newspapers, and she found the sources of information in the newspapers to be very reliable. Subsequently, she got in touch with the ‘health supplement company’ by phone and went to their ‘medical seminar’. My grandmother told me that during the lecture, she saw a fainting mouse in a cage who had eaten their health supplement and immediately became alive. Unsurprisingly, she bought the pills, but then my mom called the police as well. The police told the grandmother that their actions were not illegal and that they could not be detained because they had a qualified sales certificate and there was no coercion. Their behavior is to sell a health supplement worth one dollar for ten thousand dollars and to lobby and persuade their target customers to gain their trust. Now, instead of being advertised in newspapers and flyers, ‘health product companies’ are selling through the internet on China’s TikTok platform. They use the same lobbying tactics as they did in the past, taking advantage of loopholes in the law to seek benefits.
Interview with a cancer patient (summary)
3 May, 2024, Telephone interview
I interviewed a friend of mine from college who was a student of good character and academics but was diagnosed with lymphoma when she was 22 years old. I saw her go from being a lively and active girl to being blinded and struggling with her illness. In the early stages of treatment, due to the need for chemotherapy and a large amount of medicine, her body began to show various symptoms, such as vomiting, hair loss, and body aches. After half a year of treatment, the condition did not improve. She was in great pain, and indeed, the disease tormented not only people’s bodies but also people’s wills. Later, she saw on the Internet that someone was selling a panacea and promising a cure for cancer. She decided to give it a try. I had tried to dissuade her, we are both highly educated students, and you should know that it is useless. You should continue to listen to the doctor. What she said touched me deeply: “After so long of treatment, I have spent a lot of money but it has never improved, I can’t see any hope, I want to live.”
Interview with the family of a buyer
15 June, 2024, Live interview
I interviewed a woman from Sichuan Province, China, whose parents are both from Sichuan Province, China, and who are both 80 years old this year. Below is a transcript of my interview along with photos.
- Question 1: When did you notice that your parents bought a lot of medicines and health supplements from Chinese TikTok?
- Three years ago, I downloaded Chinese TikTok and Toutiao to my mother’s phone to help them relieve their boredom. They enjoy using both apps to read things like current news and recipes. Later, I slowly found that there were many more bottles and cans of health care products at home. They don’t have the opportunity to go out, and I buy daily necessities and fruits and vegetables at home regularly. When I first asked them, they couldn’t tell where the supplements came from. Finally, I looked through their phone and found that there were purchase records on Chinese TikTok.
- Q2: How much do your parents spend on medicines and supplements on Chinese TikTok every month?
- My parents used to be ordinary workers, and after retirement, my father had a retirement salary of about RMB 2,130 (about £200) a month, and my mother had a retirement salary of about RMB 1,600 (about £150) a month. I usually pay for the daily expenses, and they don’t spend much money at all. But I didn’t expect them to spend most of their money on health supplements. Last month, the couple bought nearly 2,000 yuan (about 200 pounds) of health supplements. You said that it was not good to use the money to buy something, and it really me off.
- Question 3: What is your view of this behavior of your parents?
- I always disagreed. In fact, this is not their first time. As early as about a decade ago, offline health talks for the elderly were popular. But in fact, it was not a lecture at all, it was to fool the elderly to buy their health products. Since then, I have been strongly against it and have tried to keep them out as little as possible. I thought that this would prevent them from being brainwashed by them again, but I didn’t expect that now they have moved the same trick to Chinese TikTok, which is really hateful.
- Question 4: Have you expressed your opinion to your parents?
- Hey, I’ve tried to persuade them, and I’ve lost my temper with them, but to no avail. Before, I stopped them from listening to offline lectures, but they were anxious with me, not to say that I was not their biological daughter, and to prevent them from living a long life. It’s really chilling.
- Question 5: Would you like to receive some help from the government or society?
- To be honest, I feel like they’re brainwashed. I wish there was an authority or a doctor to try to persuade them.
Interview with relavent agency
20 July, 2024, Telephone interview
I interviewed a Chinese TikTok staff member whose job is to oversee individuals or companies that sell items on Chinese TikTok.
- Q1: What is your day-to-day job?
- I’m a colleague in the product department of TikTok in China, and I’m mainly responsible for overseeing the products sold on the platform.
- Q2: What qualifications or certifications do I need to provide if I want to sell on TikTok?
- It is necessary to apply for 5 qualification certificates, namely business license, ICP business license (value-added telecommunications business license), and network culture business license, including live broadcast, commercial performance license, and radio and television program production license.
- Q3: Does TikTok have any special requirements for the sale of medicines and health supplements?
- In addition to the above-mentioned certificates, food and health products also need to provide commodity registration certificate, food production license, food business license and commodity quality inspection report. The sale of drugs needs to be in accordance with the relevant regulations of the country on drug sales, and the control on our platform is generally very strict. And very few users buy medicines on our platform, and they generally need to go to hospitals or clinics to prescribe medicines.
- Q4:Does TikTok have strict regulations on the sale of health supplements?
- Yes, first of all, you need to choose formal channels to purchase health care products to ensure product quality. Secondly, it is necessary to comply with relevant laws and regulations, such as labeling product name, ingredients, use, dosage and other information, and not to exaggerate or falsely advertise to improve consumer trust, such as providing real customer evaluations and providing after-sales service.
- Q5: What does TikTok think about false advertising, exaggerated sales and other sales methods that mislead people to buy?
- In fact, we have very clear rules that do not allow exaggeration and false publicity in the sales process. We utilize AI technology to supervise. Once verified, we will punish the streamer.