New rules are coming: WeChat clearly regulates the content of influencers’ product promotion

WeChat recently issued new rules to regulate the content of short videos on WeChat with promotional content, especially those by influencers and promoters. The new rules list in detail the illegal products that are prohibited from being promoted, including "black five categories" of products, counterfeit and shoddy products, and false propaganda, and set strict penalties for merchants and influencers' violations. This move aims to purify the promotion ecosystem, improve user experience, and provide a healthier marketing environment for brands and merchants.

According to the new regulations opinion solicitation document "Specifications for Promotion of Short Videos with Goods Selling on Video Accounts" (hereinafter referred to as the "Specifications"), the WeChat team began to regulate the behavior of short video sales.

If you look deeper, it is more like a detailed regulation formulated to regulate the promotion of products by promoters and influencers. In particular, the supplementary provisions emphasize that if the influencer promotion rules conflict with the "Video Account Showcase Influencer Violation Management Rules", these rules shall prevail.

The "Specifications" clearly define the scope of application and apply to all WeChat store influencers and video account showcase experts.

In terms of product promotion, the new regulations provide detailed provisions on illegal products that are prohibited from promotion.

Among them, banned goods are strictly prohibited, including the "five black categories" of goods and efficacy promotion, such as aphrodisiac, weight loss, etc.; high-risk medical and human health goods, such as medical beauty injections, high-risk medicinal materials, etc.; pornography, gambling and drug-related goods; state-specific controlled goods, such as arms and weapons, controlled equipment, etc.; goods that endanger social stability; and financial or emotional risk goods.

The new regulations also have a zero-tolerance attitude towards counterfeit and knockoff products. Selling branded products without authorization, deliberately circumventing branded products, and selling knockoff products are all prohibited. In addition, promoting products beyond the scope is also prohibited, including products beyond the open categories and merchants not qualified to sell products in the targeted access category.

In terms of content marketing, the "Specifications" emphasize the prohibition of publishing false promotional information. The use of extreme advertising words, mismatching of goods, inconsistent product information, inconsistent prices, misleading marketing, and false efficacy are strictly prohibited.

At the same time, improper marketing methods are also prohibited, such as marketing that sells misery, acting and hype, inappropriate prices, false benefits, hot event marketing, etc. The behavior of guiding private transactions is also expressly prohibited, including guiding private connections and disengaging from short video transactions.

Coincidentally, in another official release, "Notice on the Revision of the Implementation Rules for Publishing False Promotional Information in WeChat Stores - Version 20250225", the implementation rules for publishing false promotional information were also updated for merchants. False promotional information refers to the key information of a product that is inconsistent with the actual situation, such as specifications, brand, material, size, weight, color, variety, quantity, origin, maturity, logistics method, freight, price, after-sales service, etc.

Whether it is merchants or experts, the authorities have given corresponding punishment measures.

The platform will take corresponding handling and punishment measures for influencers' violations. For minor violations, a warning will be given, and the illegal short videos and products will be unbound, restricted, and blocked; for general violations, in addition to the above measures, influencers will be banned from selling products through short videos for a period of time; for serious violations, all historical short videos of influencers selling products will be removed from the shelves, and influencers will be permanently banned from selling products through short videos and using the video account showcase function.

For merchants:

1) For minor offenses, the offending products will be removed from shelves, prohibited from being put on shelves, the payment settlement period for store orders will be extended, withdrawal of payment will be restricted, withdrawal of deposit will be restricted, and the listing of products and withdrawal period will be restricted for 3 to 7 days;

2) For minor cases, the offending products will be removed from shelves, prohibited from being put on shelves, the payment settlement period for store orders will be extended, withdrawal of payment will be restricted, withdrawal of deposit will be restricted, and the listing of products and withdrawal period will be restricted for 7 to 15 days;

3) In serious cases, the entire quantity of products will be removed from the shelves, products will be prohibited from being put on the shelves, the payment settlement period for store orders will be extended, payment withdrawals will be restricted, deposit withdrawals will be restricted, products will be prohibited from being put on the shelves, and withdrawals will be restricted for 15 to 30 days;

4) If the circumstances are particularly serious, the seller will be permanently banned from listing products, all products will be removed from the shelves, the store order payment settlement period will be extended, the payment withdrawal will be restricted, the deposit withdrawal will be restricted, and the withdrawal period will be restricted for 30 to 180 days.

In addition, the supplementary provisions also point out that influencers should remove illegal short videos in a timely manner, and the platform will handle the published content according to these rules. If these rules conflict with the "Video Account Showcase Influencer Violation Management Rules", these rules shall prevail.