This is a necessary proposal in the face of the increasingly difficult situation of drug business activities in the online environment.
Livestream has the advantage of direct interaction, quick access and creating a feeling of closeness. However, this characteristic also easily makes viewers make hasty purchase decisions under the impact of attractive advertisements, limited promotions or continuous "order closing" screens.
That sales method may be suitable for clothes and household appliances, but cannot be applied to medicine.
Because inappropriate clothes can be exchanged and returned, and using the wrong medicine can make the disease worse, causing dangerous reactions, even threatening life.
In a livestream session, it is very difficult for buyers to verify whether the person advising is qualified; whether the sales establishment is licensed; where the medicine comes from and how it is stored.
More dangerously, sellers can rely on a few rudimentarily described symptoms to introduce drugs as if they are being examined. Viewers thereby self-diagnose, self-buy, self-treat without being fully consulted by a doctor or pharmacist.
Banning livestream sales of drugs is therefore not a restriction on e-commerce, but to establish safety boundaries for a special type of goods. However, banning a new form of sales is only the first step.
If there is a lack of a synchronous monitoring mechanism, drug sales activities can shift from public livestreams to closed groups, personal accounts or private messages.
Live broadcasts can also be disguised as "experience sharing", "health consultation" activities and then lead viewers to another address to shop.
Therefore, the regulation must clearly define the responsibilities of social networks, e-commerce platforms and intermediary platforms.
These units must verify sellers, trace transactions, proactively detect and remove violating content and provide information to functional agencies when requested.
Along with managing drug sales activities, functional agencies need to strictly handle the situation of advertising health protection foods, cosmetics and medical equipment as if they have medicinal uses.
These confusing advertisements make many people spend money to buy products that do not bring the expected results. More dangerously, because of believing in advertisements, patients may be late for examination, missing the best time for treatment.
The health sector cannot just stop at advising people to be cautious. In this relationship, buyers are often in a weak position due to lack of professional knowledge and not having enough information to verify.
Therefore, the responsibility must first of all belong to the seller, the intermediary platform and the management agency. Violations must be detected promptly, publicly and handled with sufficient deterrence.
Banning livestream sales of drugs, the ultimate goal is not only to eliminate online drug "prescription-closing sessions", but to build a transparent online pharmaceutical market with identification, traceability and responsibility when consequences occur.
Convenience in drug trading cannot be placed higher than safety for human health and life.
