Short answer: Livestream selling sits at the junction of four legal systems: e-commerce law governs the platform and the sales session, advertising law governs product presentation content, tax law governs every party’s income in the chain, and consumer law governs buyer rights. The KOL, the brand, the management company (MCN) and the platform each carry a share of duties — incidents usually happen when each side assumes the duty sits with its partner.
Advertising inside a livestream: a wrong claim is the whole chain’s violation
Product presentation inside a livestream is advertising when it promotes goods to the public; under the amended Advertising Law frame, most recently effective from 01/01/2026, the person presenting the product — especially an influencer — must keep claims truthful within the evidence supplied and may not advertise as personal experience when they have not actually used the product. The brand answers for the accuracy of product materials given to the KOL; the platform answers for managing commercial livestream sessions under the E-Commerce Law 122/2025/QH15 and Decree 248/2026/ND-CP. The most sanctioned errors are exaggerated efficacy, fake anchor prices and false discounts, and treatment-effect promises for supplements and cosmetics — errors preserved intact by the broadcast video itself in a livestream environment.
Tax, returns and the three-party contract
On tax, livestream sales revenue on a platform falls under the platform withholding mechanism of Decree 117/2025/ND-CP for in-scope sellers; KOL and MCN commission and service income is taxable revenue as business or personal income by subject type, to be fully declared instead of received through undocumented personal accounts as in the industry’s early phase. Livestream buyers hold full distance-transaction consumer rights under the Consumer Rights Protection Law 19/2023/QH15: pre-purchase information, goods as described and the published return policy. The brand–KOL–MCN contract must therefore allocate clearly: who approves the advertising script, who answers when statements go off-script, revenue splits and each party’s tax duties, and crisis handling when a live session causes an incident.
Pre-campaign checklist
- Product presentation scripts approved by the brand in writing, efficacy claims locked.
- KOL/MCN contracts stating tax duties and responsibility for off-script statements.
- Listed and promotional prices in the session grounded in genuine pre-promotion prices.
- Return policy for livestream orders published inside the sales session itself.
Frequently asked questions
What new rules govern advertising in livestreams?
Product presentation in a livestream is advertising activity: information must be truthful within the evidence, influencers may not review as if experienced when they have not used the product, and prohibited claims such as guaranteed treatment effects remain absolutely banned. The amended advertising frame effective from 01/01/2026 tightens the presenter’s personal responsibility alongside the brand’s.
What are the tax duties of KOLs and brands?
Platform sellers bear platform withholding under Decree 117/2025 on in-scope sales revenue; KOLs and MCNs declare tax on commissions and service fees according to their subject status. Brands paying KOLs must perform corresponding withholding and documentation. Every payment should run through contracts and documents rather than verbal arrangements.
How do returns and warranties work for livestream purchases?
Under the seller’s and platform’s published policy plus distance-transaction consumer rights pursuant to Law 19/2023: goods mismatching description, advertised efficacy or quality are returnable and refundable per commitment and regulation. Buyers should keep the session video and the product description at purchase time as evidence of any gap.
What must the brand–KOL–platform (MCN) contract contain?
Four contents: allocation of advertising-content approval and the locked set of permitted claims; responsibility when the KOL speaks off-script; revenue and commission splits with each party’s tax and documentation duties; and crisis handling plus content removal when regulators or the platform require it. The MCN in the middle must hold clear duties to both sides, not merely be a money conduit.
This article has been quality-reviewed by the FLAW AI Legal Council