"shh." After making a gesture of silence, Jiang Chen softly repeated the question he had just heard, and slowly drew a card from the card library next to the table.
"The first one is a chariot." Jiang Chen said as he picked up his mobile phone and pointed it at a card lit on the desktop. On the card, a warrior stood on the chariot with a scepter in his right hand. In front of the chariot, there were two sphinxes, one black and one white.
After seeing the young man on the video call who was full of doubts but implied expectations, Jiang Chen continued to interpret this card: "This card is placed upside down, which represents the reverse position. The reverse position of the chariot means that you have lost your direction in this relationship, which makes the other person feel distrustful of you. You need to reflect on what you have done … …”
As a Tarot soothsayer, Jiang Chen will not only publish some articles in WeChat official account related to Tarot cards, but also regularly "video divination" for people, charging 100 yuan to 300 yuan each time.
Recently, an online shop in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, which carried out marketing activities under the name of Tarot divination, was investigated by the police, which once again aroused people’s concern about online divination. Many people have doubts. Is online divination "life" or "money"?
Network divination is popular on the Internet.
"9.9 yuan measures fortune", "19.9 yuan measures feelings" and "199 yuan changes fortune" … … Nowadays, on the Internet, similar online divination advertisements are not uncommon, whether it is WeChat official account or private WeChat; Whether it is an e-commerce platform or a small program, there are people who "answer questions" for our destiny at any time.
Among them, Tarot cards have become the "upstart" of online divination, which is very popular among young people. On the short video platform, the number of video praises involving Tarot cards can even reach one million.
In Jiang Chen’s view, tarot divination is popular among young people mainly because of its simple operation and strong interaction. For example, the most common algorithm is to randomly select a few cards from 1 to 78 (78 tarot cards in the whole deck) and then find the cards corresponding to the numbers to interpret.
Why do some people seek help such as divination when they encounter difficult problems or anxiety in life, and they are "convinced" of the result? Zhang Xin, an associate professor at the School of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences in Peking University, pointed out that whatever form of fortune telling is to meet some psychological needs of fortune tellers. There is a concept in psychology called sense of control, which is an evasion of people’s uncertainty about things. Many people’s emotions or life pressures come from uncertainty about the future. In fact, divination makes use of the "Barnum effect" in psychology to a certain extent, that is, given a relatively ambiguous answer, it is easy for people to believe in a general and general description, and it is easy for people to sit in the right place under the guidance of the diviner’s words, which makes this statement extremely credible.
"Divination is a project of dealing with people, and verbal skills are really important." Jiang Chen said that fortune tellers are very good at observing words and feelings, and first listen to what the main demands of the guests are. If it is emotional or career, then in most cases, they encounter something unsatisfactory or fall into a dilemma that is difficult to choose.
"In fact, many guests have a potential answer or choice in their hearts before they come to divination, just hoping to get this kind of ‘ Mysterious power ’ Support, and then strengthen your own ideas. " Although Jiang Chen frankly said that Tarot divination is mostly "psychological comfort", he also said that there is still a certain "scientific basis", which includes many psychological theories besides astrology.
"fortune telling" or "counting money"
With the advent of the internet age, the main battlefield of divination began to shift from offline to network. Liu Junhai, a professor at the Law School of Renmin University of China, said in an interview with the reporter of Rule of Law Daily that online divination is more concealed, spreads more widely and has a larger passenger flow than offline.
The reporter searched for the keyword "network divination" on an e-commerce website, and a large number of divination services appeared, including the traditional Zhouyi Eight Diagrams in China and the Tarot in the West, which involved marriage, career, health and so on, ranging from tens of yuan to hundreds of yuan, and the monthly sales of some shops were above 1,000+.
Jiang Chen revealed that at present, in addition to opening stores on e-commerce platforms, some channels of online divination are opening WeChat official account and Weibo, and some even directly use friends to attract business.
Convenient network channels have also brought great convenience to proliferation. Leave some "metaphysical" comments in the comment area of some stars or hot events to attract netizens to open the commentator’s personal homepage; Provide free divination service, but guests need to share the information of the diviner to the circle of friends … … A series of operations have made network divination "more and more popular".
In addition to the divination itself, some online divination services are also "the meaning of drunkenness is not in the wine."
According to the Shenzhen police, the tarot shops that have been investigated recently have been promoting customers online since 2018, providing various services such as "fortune telling" and "communicating with Yin and Yang" in the name of tarot divination. The fortune teller induces customers to buy so-called "crystal" and "cinnabar" for various reasons to ward off evil spirits, and charges a fee of 10,000 yuan.
"It’s common to fool customers into buying products after divination. After all, it’s money ‘ Big head ’ 。” Jiang Chen said that there are also "skills" in selling products. Generally, customers who are convinced or trying to change a certain situation will continue to sell further.
Nowadays, there is a more convenient AI fortune-telling. After inputting personal information or uploading photos in some WeChat official account, there will be a "numerology report" issued by AI in a few tens of seconds, but what is needed behind it is also "money".
Earlier, some media investigated a WeChat WeChat official account named "AI Palmistry Analysis". Less than 30 seconds after submitting a complete photo of the face according to the prompt, the page displayed "Report has been generated", but if you want to get the 9.9 yuan, you have to pay extra for other individual reports.
These WeChat official account also continue to collect money by recruiting agents. They can become agents only by paying a certain agency fee, and they can refer customers and get the corresponding rebate commission. They are upgraded by attracting people and developing their families, and they continue to expand their communication influence while collecting money.
"Fortune-telling" is an illegal place
"Although fortune-telling has a long history, it must be clear that regardless of traditional fortune-telling or online fortune-telling, no matter how the pattern is refurbished, its essence is feudal superstition." Mao Hongtao, a member of all china lawyers association Criminal Professional Committee and a senior partner of Deheng Law Group, pointed out that online divination is definitely not a "place outside the law".
Mao Hongtao introduced that Article 15 of the Administrative Measures for Internet Information Services (Revised in 2011) stipulates that Internet information service providers shall not promote cults and feudal superstitions. Article 5 of the Administrative Measures for the Security Protection of Computer Information Network International Networking (revised in 2011) stipulates that no unit or individual may use information networks to produce, copy, publish or disseminate information that promotes feudal superstitions. If a fine is imposed according to the circumstances, which constitutes a violation of public security administration, it shall be punished in accordance with the provisions of the Public Security Administration Punishment Law.
In addition, Mao Hongtao said that there are many online divination routines, which can easily breed other related crimes. For example, using online divination to fabricate facts, concealing the truth, and defrauding customers of money on the grounds of transshipment are suspected of fraud; Developing offline agents in the name of network divination, extracting commissions and commissions, belongs to pyramid schemes and is suspected of organizing and leading pyramid schemes; Using network divination to illegally obtain citizens’ personal information and sell it for profit is suspected of infringing citizens’ personal information.
According to Zhao Zhanling, a lawyer of Beijing Yunjia Law Firm, the current governance of network divination is still relatively loose. Although there are some laws and regulations to regulate it, it is often aimed at behaviors with serious consequences. For example, according to the Public Security Administration Punishment Law, only those who disturb social order and harm the health of others may be detained and fined. The supervision of some charging divination behaviors with no obvious social harm is not strict, and most of them are mainly publicity and education.
"For online divination, there is no clear prohibition law at present." Zhao Zhanling believes that in view of the rapid spread of online divination and its possible negative impact on young users, we should consider bringing it into the scope of laws and regulations as soon as possible, and introduce prohibitive provisions, instead of intervening in a hurry after it leads to fraud or serious consequences. It is suggested that the existing laws and regulations can be modified. For example, it is explicitly prohibited to spread information related to network divination in the Measures for the Administration of Internet Information Services, and it is also clear that network service providers should take relevant technical and management measures to manage some network divination information existing on the platform.
"We should also continue to strengthen education, advocate scientific spirit, encourage people to seek real psychological counseling if they have problems, and establish a mass reporting mechanism." Liu Junhai added. (Reporter Zhao Chenxi)