数字经济条件下电商平台责任认定难题和治理出路

在我国大力发展数字经济的时代背景下，电商平台具有独特的法律地位，在为平台内经营者与消费者之间搭建交易平台时，其凭借与二者间形成的平台服务关系，间接地对交易关系发挥着实质影响，成为隔离买卖双方的信息要素持有者。在消费者权益保护方面，我国立法虽然严格地规定了电商平台的过错责任和连带责任，但在因平台消费引发的民事案件中，极少出现判令由平台向消费者担责的判例。细究判理，虽然立法上有较为全面的责任设计，但与个案层面人民法院需要遵循的追责逻辑并不契合，立法规定的电商平台责任面临着严重的实施困境。从实践情况看，困境集中表现为:在认定平台存在主观明知时缺乏裁判标准，在确认违法经营行为出现后电商平台所采取的措施是否具有必要性时缺乏明确的程度衡量规范，导致消费者因举证不力而败诉。根本上讲，原因在于相关立法仍秉承电商平台是交易辅助人的传统思维。这与其在数字经济凭借技术优势对买卖双方享有的强势地位并不相符，故而应当基于数字经济区别于传统经济的特征，构建涉电商平台纠纷的数字经济责任模式;在价值理念上纠正商品服务关系中认定电商平台的误区，回到平台与用户的数字信息服务关系上，明确其应当负有的法律责任，促进平台与政府、用户、社会主体共同打造数字经济秩序的治理合作关系。

Difficulties in identifying responsibility and governance solutions for e-commerce platforms under the digital economy

In the context of vigorously developing the digital economy in China, e-commerce platforms have a unique legal status. When building transactions between operators and consumers within the platform, they indirectly exert a substantive influence on the transaction relationship by virtue of the platform service relationship formed between them, becoming the information element holder that separates buyers and sellers. Although China’s legislation strictly stipulates the fault liability and joint and several liability of e-commerce platforms in terms of consumer protection, in civil cases caused by platform consumption, there are few precedents in which the platform is held liable to the consumer. Careful examination of the reasoning reveals that although there is a relatively comprehensive responsibility design in legislation, the accountability logic that people’s courts need to follow at the individual case level is not consistent, and the responsibility of e-commerce platforms stipulated by legislation faces serious implementation difficulties. From a practical perspective, the difficulties are mainly manifested in the lack of judgment standards when determining that the platform has subjective knowledge, and the lack of clear measurement norms for determining whether the measures taken by e-commerce platforms after the occurrence of illegal business activities are necessary, resulting in consumers losing their lawsuit due to insufficient evidence. Fundamentally speaking, this is due to the fact that relevant legislation still adheres to the traditional thinking that e-commerce platforms are transaction facilitators, which is inconsistent with their strong position in the digital economy based on technological advantages. Based on the characteristics of the digital economy that are different from traditional economics, a digital economy responsibility model involving e-commerce platform disputes should be constructed. In terms of value concepts, the misunderstanding of identifying e-commerce platforms in the relationship between goods and services should be corrected, returning to the digital information service relationship between platforms and users, clarifying their legal responsibilities, and enabling platforms to work together with government, users, and social entities to create a governance partnership for the digital economy order.