Four departments, including the Cyberspace Administration of China: Ensure users' right to know and choose algorithms

Text/Wu Chenguang, Gao Heng

Zinc Finance News On January 4, the Cyberspace Administration of China, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, and the Municipal Supervision Bureau jointly issued the Provisions on the Recommendation and Administration of Internet Information Service Algorithms (hereinafter referred to as the "Provisions"), which came into effect on March 1, 2022.

The Provisions clarify the requirements for the protection of the rights and interests of algorithm recommendation service providers, including ensuring the algorithm's right to know, requiring users to be informed of their provision of algorithm recommendation services, and publicizing the basic principles, purposes and intentions of the services, and the main operating mechanisms; to ensure the right to choose algorithms, users should be provided with options that do not target their personal characteristics, or the option to conveniently close algorithm recommendation services. In addition, the Provisions clarify specific requirements for providing algorithm recommendation services to minors, the elderly, workers, consumers and other entities, such as not using algorithm recommendation services to induce minors to indulge in the Internet, shall facilitate the safe use of algorithmic recommendation services by the elderly, shall establish and improve relevant algorithms such as platform order distribution, remuneration composition and payment, working hours, rewards and punishments, and must not use algorithms to implement unreasonable differential treatment in transaction conditions such as transaction prices according to consumer preferences, trading habits and other characteristics.

In recent years, while the application of algorithms has injected new momentum into political, economic and social development, the problems caused by the irrational application of algorithms such as algorithm discrimination, "big data killing", and inducing addiction have also profoundly affected the normal communication order, market order and social order, and brought challenges to the maintenance of ideological security, social fairness and justice, and the legitimate rights and interests of netizens.

The Provisions make it clear that the application of algorithm recommendation technology refers to the use of algorithmic techniques such as generative synthesis, personalized push, sorting selection, retrieval and filtering, and scheduling and decision-making to provide information to users.

Algorithm recommendation service providers shall adhere to the mainstream value orientation, actively disseminate positive energy, must not use algorithm recommendation services to engage in illegal activities or disseminate illegal information, and shall employ measures to prevent and resist the dissemination of negative information; establish and complete management systems and technical measures such as user registration, information release review, data security and personal information protection, and emergency handling of security incidents, periodically review, evaluate, and verify algorithm mechanism mechanism mechanisms, models, data, and application results, and so forth; establish and complete feature libraries for identifying illegal and negative information Where illegal and negative information is discovered, corresponding disposition measures shall be employed; strengthen the management of user models and user tags, improve the rules for points of interest and user tag management that are recorded in the user model; strengthen the ecological management of algorithm recommendation service layout pages, establish and improve mechanisms for manual intervention and user self-selection, and actively present information that conforms to the mainstream value orientation in key links; standardize the development of Internet news information services, and must not generate synthetic false news information or disseminate news information released by units that are not within the scope of national regulations Algorithms must not be used to influence network public opinion, circumvent supervision and management, and monopolize and unfair competition.

In addition, the Provisions make it clear that algorithm recommendation service providers with public opinion attributes or social mobilization capabilities shall carry out security assessments in accordance with relevant national provisions. Algorithm recommendation service providers shall retain network logs in accordance with law, cooperate with network information departments and relevant departments such as for telecommunications, public security, and market supervision to carry out security assessment and supervision and inspection efforts, and provide necessary technical, data, and other such support and assistance.