电商平台“差别定价”的法律分析及其规制路径

Legal Analysis of “Differential Pricing” of E-Commerce Platforms and Its Regulatory Path

电商平台通过用户服务协议以及消费平台强制或隐秘地收集非必要信息并加以利用,借助算法推测出消费者对商品或服务价格的敏感度,进行“差别定价”。这是对消费者个人信息的过度搜集和滥用,损害消费者个人信息权益,同时使得平台与消费者之间处于不平等的地位,消费者受到无形的压迫,其公平交易的权益遭受损害,破坏了公平交易的市场秩序。可赋予消费者选择性的拒绝权、强化平台的解释说明、提示义务来弱化信息搜集的强制性与隐秘性,制衡双方地位。同时可引进第三方机构,借助其专业性弥补消费者专业知识的缺乏、凭借其监管机构身份抑制信息的滥用,以更加有效地维护消费者的合法权益。E-commerce platforms forcibly or covertly collect and use unnecessary information through user service agreements and consumer platforms, and use algorithms to infer consumers’ sensitivity to the price of goods or services and carry out “differential pricing”. This is the excessive collection and abuse of consumers’ personal information, which damages the rights and interests of consumers’ personal information, it also puts the platform and consumers in an unequal position, consumers are invisibly oppressed, their rights and interests in fair trade are damaged, and the market order of fair trade is undermined. It can give consumers the right to choose to refuse, strengthen the platform’s explanation and reminder obligations, weaken the mandatory and confidential nature of information collection, and check and balance the positions of both parties. At the same time, third-party institutions can be introduced to make up for the lack of professional knowledge of consumers with their professionalism and curb the abuse of information by virtue of their identity as regulatory agencies, so as to more effectively safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.