MCN agency, also known as multi-channel network agency in Chinese, is an intermediary agency between content creators and Internet platforms and brands. It is similar to an "Internet celebrity incubator" and helps Internet celebrities or self-media operate content, connect brands, and be responsible for monetization.
With the explosion of short videos, live broadcasts and other industries, domestic MCN organizations have evolved from "supporting service providers" in the short video industry to organizers of the online content ecosystem. While the industry is expanding at a rapid pace, a series of chaos such as false pretense, creating confrontation, and malicious control of reviews have also appeared. There are even MCN organizations weaving "health traps" to prey on the elderly. From fake news synthesized by AI, to corporate WeChat groups, to private domain "pseudo live broadcast" promotions, how do MCN organizations set up this trap?
In June of this year, an elderly man living in a nursing home in Huizhou, Guangdong Province accumulated more than 770,000 unread WeChat messages on his mobile phone and was dragged into hundreds of group chats. After deducting the nursing home expenses every month, the elderly man’s remaining pension of more than 3,000 yuan was almost spent, and all the money was sent to various MCN institutions.
The old man’s son, Mr. Wang, said: “Follow is a QR code, and WeChat will automatically add it. Corporate contacts will add them to the group.”
The reporter found similar traffic portals in some group videos provided by the elderly family members. There are a large number of seemingly formal news reports. The hosts, reporters and entrepreneurs appearing in the videos were all generated by AI. There is also an eye-catching QR code at the end of the video, claiming that you can receive the so-called "high-tech therapeutic device" by scanning the code.
After the reporter scanned the QR code with multiple mobile phones, he was quickly added as a friend by the corporate WeChat accounts of different companies, and was then directly pulled into the "health group". After joining the group, the promised free treatment device came with preconditions - you can check in and watch the "health class" every day before you can give it away.
In addition to using free equipment as bait to promote products, some live broadcast rooms promote ordinary health foods as "miraculous medicines" that can cure all diseases. A speaker who claimed to be an ambassador for agricultural aid in a certain place promoted a health food called "Yak Rhinoceros Glue", claiming that it could prevent myocardial infarction. After laying the groundwork for five or six days, this "agricultural ambassador" began to sell a package of more than 4,000 yuan for three courses of treatment. And the "yak rhino glue" she sells is just a health food.
Since the QR code under the AI video is updated from time to time, the reporter scanned the code to enter multiple such "health groups", and similar words appeared repeatedly. Some so-called "live broadcasts" claim that cancer can be diagnosed just by looking at the face, and that eating certain foods can alleviate the "three highs"; there are also "secret words" and "membership codes" in the class. The elderly have to pay a deposit first, and then use the code to qualify for the so-called "subsidy", and are led step by step to purchase products at high prices.
Reporters found in multiple WeChat groups that the certification bodies of corporate WeChat accounts responsible for attracting groups are mostly Hunan Taiyang Pharmacy, and the relevant certification pages display business licenses and pharmaceutical business licenses. Why would a well-qualified pharmacy chain recruit elderly people into its group to promote such products? The reporter came to the pharmacy headquarters in Changsha, and the person in charge of the company confirmed that these corporate WeChat accounts are indeed under the company’s name. But the complete set of marketing routines comes from the MCN agency.
The reporter used "Big Health MCN" as the keyword and contacted a number of organizations that claimed to provide private domain live broadcast marketing services. An industry insider who calls himself a "private domain live broadcast expert" said that on public domain platforms, anchors mentioning medical terms such as hypertension and diabetes may trigger platform monitoring or even account bans. To this end, they built WeChat mini program live broadcast rooms for customers to avoid platform review. She promised that even if the live broadcast room is banned due to complaints about false propaganda, it can be reopened by changing the domain name.
In addition to attracting people online, there are also organizations that attract people offline. An operator of another MCN agency told reporters that buying ads online is “too slow” and the agency they cooperate with also uses square dance team leaders to recruit people into the group. He said that once the president of the square dance association is "captured", he can bring over the square dance captain, who will then bring in the people in their team.
The operator said that after the elderly joined the group, they were not in a hurry to sell high-priced medicines. Instead, they first sold 5-day rice, flour, oil and other daily necessities at low prices to "foster" the elderly, and then looked for opportunities to get into high-priced health products. In the private domain system they built, not only can a small window be opened during the broadcast of the recorded class, and the assistants can be arranged to read the elderly person's name in real time for interaction, but even the lecture experts do not need to appear in person - as long as a two- to three-minute video is shot, the AI digital human can be used to clone the realistic mouth shape and voice.
The manager of another MCN organization promoted a "complete set" of services to reporters: from video recording and WeChat applet playback system to over-the-counter medicines, health products and other supplies. The manager said that in this model, the partner is only responsible for recruiting people into the group; a set of recorded classes usually takes 10 days as a cycle. In the first 9 days, red envelopes for signing in and answering questions are used to attract the elderly to continue listening to the class, and then gradually find out the elderly’s spending power.
Accounts can be replaced, domain names can be changed, live broadcasts can be forged, and even "experts" giving lectures can be generated in batches. In this business, some people attract traffic, some attract people, and some provide courses and supply of goods. The longer the chain is stretched, the harder it is to detect and trace. The old man's pension money was spent one by one in this way.
It is no longer easy for the elderly to see through one of the links; simply exiting a group chat or blocking a single account is far from being able to cut off the entire chain of interests. Offline physical institutions such as pharmacies and MCN institutions collude with each other to take advantage of the health anxiety of the elderly to induce consumption. This chain of interests that spans offline stores and online private domains must not be left unchecked. All relevant parties must fulfill their regulatory responsibilities, strictly investigate and deal with participants, and safeguard the rights and interests of elderly consumers.
