Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture is located in the southwest of Sichuan Province. Here, the Party and the state's poverty alleviation campaign has achieved significant results, and all formerly deeply impoverished counties have been lifted out of poverty, entering a new stage of rural revitalization and development. However, in this process, some illegal elements attempted to use the well-known influence of "Daliangshan" to make a fortune through false advertising and other means, which not only damaged the rights and interests of consumers, but also seriously hindered the consolidation of poverty alleviation achievements and the development of rural revitalization. The false advertising case involving Tang Mujie and eight others, which has been included in the case library of the People's Court, is such a case. Tang Mujie and others established a company and incubated anchors such as "Liangshan Mengyang" and "Liangshan Aze". They expanded the fan base of the short video account involved in the case by buying followers and streaming through other online companies, and falsely filmed videos of purchasing agricultural products from farmers' homes in mountainous areas of Zhaojue County under the name of "helping farmers" for live streaming sales. In February 2024, the People's Court of Zhaojue County sentenced the main offender Tang Moujie to one year and two months in prison for false advertising, and imposed a fine of 100000 yuan. Three million yuan of personal illegal gains were recovered. The other defendants were sentenced to imprisonment ranging from nine months to one year, and imposed fines ranging from 20000 yuan to 80000 yuan. Personal illegal gains ranging from 60000 yuan to seven million yuan were recovered. After the verdict, all eight defendants expressed their obedience to the first instance judgment and did not appeal. A reporter from the Rule of Law Daily recently conducted in-depth interviews with the investigating judge, police officers, defense counsel, and others to reconstruct the process of handling the case. When opening the case file, the reporter saw that the clue to this case was the discovery by the Zhaojue County Market Supervision Administration Bureau that the short video accounts of "Liangshan Mengyang" and "Liangshan Aze" were suspected of false advertising crimes during live streaming sales. After the clues were handed over to the Zhaojue County Public Security Bureau, the police established a special task force and successfully solved the case under the supervision of the Ministry of Public Security. The prosecution accuses that since 2020, defendants Tang and Li have established companies such as Sichuan Wocheng Agriculture Co., Ltd. and Chengdu Aowei Culture Media Co., Ltd., with defendant Lin and others serving as the main operators responsible for planning, operating, managing short video stores, and coordinating supply chains for live streaming sales. They have also incubated anchors such as defendant A (short video account nickname "Liangshan Mengyang") and defendant A (short video account nickname "Liangshan Aze"). The defendants Tang Mujie and others expanded the fan base of the short video account involved in the case by buying followers and streaming through other online companies. During the live broadcast of "internet celebrities", they allowed the involved online company to use a large number of purchased fan accounts to deceive consumers through rating control in the live broadcast room. They falsely filmed videos of purchasing the above-mentioned agricultural products from farmers' homes in the mountainous areas of Zhaojue County under the name of 'assisting farmers', attracting consumers' attention to Daliangshan agricultural products. "The presiding judge of this case, Li Gang, told reporters that the defendant registered accounts on short video platforms of A Moumou Guo and A Moumou Jia, and sold agricultural products from non Liangshan areas under the name of Daliangshan through live streaming sales. After verification, the defendants Tang Moujie, Li Mou, and others purchased Yunnan walnuts, non Liangshan origin green and white peppers, fungus, morel mushrooms, mushrooms, and other agricultural and sideline products at low prices from Tan Mou, Zhang Moufang, and others in order to realize traffic monetization, and purchased non Liangshan origin honey products at low prices from Shen Moumou. During the live streaming sales period, sales were made through false advertising, resulting in sales of over 35.47 million yuan and illegal profits of over 13.11 million yuan. Quickly sorting out fixed evidence, it is reported that "Liangshan Mengyang" became an "internet celebrity" under the packaging and incubation of Tang Mujie's company a few years ago, and gained some fame in Liangshan and even across the country. In the early stage, it mainly sold poorly through staged filming to attract a large number of fans and lay the foundation for live streaming sales. Li Gang said that in the process of handling cases, judicial personnel face many challenges - live streaming e-commerce, as an emerging business model, has significant difficulties in determining the nature of its behavior, fixing evidence, and applying laws. The difficulty of obtaining evidence first lies in front of the public security organs. In the early stage of the case, in order to achieve the "three effects in one" and respond to social concerns as soon as possible, facing the complex goods in the live broadcast room, the public security organs need to sort out the operation mode of the involved personnel and the supporting materials for their false propaganda from the large number of short videos and live sales videos released by the defendant in a short period of time. Based on the promotional content and sales situation of the live broadcast room, we need to conduct on-site visits to multiple places in Liangshan in a short period of time to investigate the source of goods The investigating police in this case said that the verification of the source of goods requires a huge amount of data, including short videos, live streaming sales videos, sales links of the involved goods, transaction records of the involved personnel and enterprises, WeChat chat records, call records, etc., to be checked, analyzed and judged one by one, and to lock in the real source of goods. In addition, there are also many individuals involved in this case with wide geographical distribution, difficulty in arrest, difficulty in interrogation, whether their confession is true, and difficulty in identification. There are over 3000 videos related to this case. Considering that this case is a confession and punishment case, and the amount of various videos is too large, the defendant had no objection to the evidence presented by the prosecutor in court, so the relevant videos were not played in court. But as the investigating judge, I selectively watched some of the videos before the trial, especially the key video evidence Li Gang said. At the same time, the Zhaojue County Court innovatively used live streaming videos as electronic evidence in evidence collection, fixed key content through technological means, ensured the authenticity and completeness of evidence, and provided strong support for the determination of case facts. It is understood that there were different understandings at the beginning of the case handling, and some investigators believed that false advertising was only a civil fraud and did not constitute a criminal offense of false advertising. In response to this situation, during the court trial, the investigating judge extensively collected relevant cases, and the collegial panel reached a consensus: Tang Mujie and others used short video platforms to sell goods, falsely advertised non Liangshan agricultural products as Liangshan agricultural products, and illegally profited from live streaming sales through false advertising. The circumstances were serious and constituted the crime of false advertising. The court adheres to the principle of "based on facts and guided by law" in the trial, comprehensively fixing evidence through methods such as retrieving live video recordings and collecting relevant videos. At the same time, in-depth research on relevant laws and regulations, accurate application of criminal law and criminal procedure law, has laid the foundation for fair trial of cases. In terms of legal application, the court accurately grasped the constituent elements of false advertising and defined key elements such as "false advertising," "misleading consumers," and "harmful consequences. In the process of handling the case, we conducted in-depth research on the business model of live streaming sales, accurately grasped its differences from traditional advertising, and found an appropriate balance between legal provisions and new formats Li Gang said that the characteristics of the new format of online media are convenience and speed. Anyone who registers a short video account can conduct extensive promotion without conditions or barriers, and the promotion effect is immediate. The speed of dissemination is incomparable to traditional advertising. The highly tempting promotion of "internet celebrity" anchors can easily resonate with fans, leading to blind ordering and causing personal losses. In this regard, when considering the conviction of Tang Mujie and eight other defendants, the collegiate bench believed that the facts of the case were clear, the evidence was sufficient, the legal basis was accurately grasped, and at the same time, considering the social harm of the defendant's behavior, the defendant's attitude of pleading guilty, actively refunding illegal gains, and other circumstances, the judgment was made in accordance with the law. Yang Hong, the defense lawyer of defendant Lin, stated in an interview with reporters that the factual determination and legal application of this case were accurate, and the judgment was fair. It not only effectively safeguarded the legal authority but also fully protected the legitimate rights and interests of all defendants. The verdict of this case has a strong deterrent effect on potential perpetrators who attempt to use 'internet celebrities' live streaming sales to engage in illegal and criminal activities, infringing on the rights and interests of consumers. Li Gang said that criminals use short video platforms for false advertising, causing a negative impact, and the circumstances are serious. Not imposing criminal penalties is not enough to curb the spread of such illegal behavior. We will severely crack down on such criminals in accordance with the law, effectively safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of consumers, maintain a fair competition environment in the market, and create a favorable legal environment for the rural revitalization and development in Liangshan area. The verdict of this case has attracted widespread attention from society and received high attention from market regulatory authorities. Recently, the Market Supervision and Administration Bureau of Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture issued the "Administrative Guidance on Compliance Operation of Online Anchor Live Streaming Sales", requiring business entities with an annual transaction volume exceeding 100000 yuan to actively apply for a business license, operate with integrity, and abide by business ethics. We should continuously deepen publicity and education, enhance the public's awareness of the rule of law and discernment ability, and avoid being deceived by false propaganda. Only with the joint efforts of the whole society can we build a social environment of integrity, justice, and rule of law, and promote the continuous development of rural revitalization in Liangshan area Li Gang said. Excerpt from the verdict: Defendants Tang Mujie and eight others violated the law by using commercial advertisements on live streaming platforms to falsely promote products. The circumstances were serious, and their behavior had already violated the criminal law, constituting the crime of false advertising. The prosecution was found guilty of the charges. The eight defendants cooperated and supported each other during the criminal process, which is a joint crime. The defendants Tang and Li played a major role in the joint crime and are the main culprits. They should be punished according to all the crimes they participated in. The defendant Tang Mujie, as the principal offender, shall be responsible for the entire crime and shall be responsible for all personal illegal profits. The reputation of the sold products is not related to this case. The key to this case lies in false advertising, which has affected the sustainable development of Liangshan agricultural products. (New Society)