The online violence of the boy looking for relatives in Hebei was alleged to be an important inducement
It's time for the keyboard man's to end
□ Zhao Li, a reporter of this newspaper
□ Yang Yinan, an intern of this newspaper
"The sun shines on the surface of the sea, and I also belong to the sea. From here, he ended his life and took away the most beautiful scenery in the world. ”
In the early morning of January 24, Liu Xuezhou, a boy in Hebei Province, posted a long post on Weibo, telling about his life of being betrayed by his biological parents, his adoptive parents dying, being bullied and molested in school, and being abused by the Internet. At noon on the same day, the Sanya police confirmed that Liu Xuezhou had committed suicide in Sanya.
A number of experts interviewed by the "Rule of Law Daily" reporter believe that personal life experience, personality and setbacks encountered in the process of searching for relatives, coupled with some rough accusations on the Internet, under the action of these comprehensive factors, tragedy occurred. Among them, internet violence is an important trigger for Liu Xuezhou's suicide.
A good word is warm in three winters, and a bad word hurts people in June. In recent years, with the development of the Internet, Internet riots have continued to appear, not only polluting the network environment, but also directly or indirectly leading to a number of tragedies. Experts suggest that measures such as the online real-name system, strengthening law enforcement, and strengthening the responsibility of platform supervision should be taken to strictly define the boundary between love and law, so as to avoid netizens from becoming the hands behind the tragedy.
The boy was killed
Internet violence is hard to blame
Liu Xuezhou was adopted by his adoptive parents when he was about 3 months old, and after the unexpected death of his adoptive parents, he was raised by the elderly. On December 15, 2021, police in Linfen, Shanxi Province, found liu Xuezhou's biological father's family through DNA. On January 17, 2022, Liu Xuezhou posted screenshots and call recordings of his biological mother blocked by his biological mother because of a conflict with his biological parents on social platforms, saying that he was abandoned by his biological parents again, and denied that the contradiction was caused by his request to "buy a house".
However, the Internet rioters began to attack liu Xuezhou on the grounds that Liu Xuezhou asked to "buy a house": some netizens privately wrote to Liu Xuezhou's social platform account that "it is too disgusting for you"; some netizens called it "hype" and "set up people", using the kindness of netizens to win sympathy; and some netizens questioned why he was nibbling on the old...
In the early morning of January 24, 2022, Liu Xuezhou positioned Sanya to publish a farewell article that was "born light, but also clean", and this letter mentioned: "There are many people who come to scold me, satirize me, frame me, slander me, and personally attack me for commenting and private messages, and I am very sad after seeing it." ”
Liu Xuezhou's friend Lin Xia (pseudonym) said in an interview with the media: "Online violence is the last straw to crush him (Liu Xuezhou). ”
In the view of Li Huaisheng, director of the Institute of Network Law of China University of Political Science and Law, netizens may evaluate the behavior of others based on their own life experience and daily reasoning, which seems objective, fair and logical, but it is easy to lose empathy and empathy, and even if the relevant comments are carried out under the "human setting" and "situation" created by the media, it may be completely contrary to the truth. Liu Xuezhou's life is tragic and worthy of sympathy, he hopes to find his own parents, get some financial help from his biological parents, and have a home. As a minor, such a thought is normal and reasonable. However, when some netizens comment, they will abstractly regard Liu Xuezhou as a very rational person, thinking that Liu Xuezhou's demands on his parents are excessive, or that Liu Xuezhou's behavior is more utilitarian. In this process, these netizens seem to be upholding justice, but they are actually engaged in verbal violence.
"Netizens must be wary of getting lost in 'upholding justice' and evolving from 'speaking fairly' to simple negative emotional catharsis." Especially when you do not truly understand the emotions and life experience of the parties themselves, do not easily judge the lives of others from a third-party, seemingly objective and fair, and lofty rational perspective. Li Huaisheng said.
Hold cybercrime accountable
There are many difficulties in reality
Liu Xuezhou's internet violence case is not an isolated case. With the development of the Internet, Internet violence incidents continue to appear: in 2018, Female Doctor Deyang in Sichuan Province clashed with people in the swimming pool, and finally committed suicide due to unbearable Internet violence; Zhao Ruirui, the former deputy of the Chinese women's volleyball team, once posted on social media that she was attacked by many malicious people after being injured by many malicious people after being injured in 2004...
The reporter combed and found that there is no such thing as "network violence" in the law. According to Meng Qiang, director of the Civil Code Research Center of the Law School of Beijing Institute of Technology, the Civil Code makes some provisions on the right to reputation and the right to portrait, such as if the perpetrator affects the reputation of others by carrying out news reporting and public opinion supervision for the public interest, he does not bear civil liability, but there are exceptions, such as fabrication and distortion, failure to fulfill verification obligations, and use insulting words to defame the reputation of others. Therefore, whether online violence is involved depends on the degree of comment, and if netizens deliberately distort and fabricate facts or clearly use insulting words, it is online violence and constitutes infringement.
The interviewed experts believe that although the mainland has promulgated the "Provisions on the Administration of Internet Electronic Bulletin Services", "Measures for the Administration of Internet Information Services", "Convention on Self-Discipline of Civilized Internet Access" and other corresponding laws and regulations, due to the rapid development of the Network, traditional laws and regulations cannot fully apply this change, and there are some omissions. This is also the reason why many people encounter internet violence to protect their rights. More importantly, the person who launched the internet storm attack did not use a real-name account on the social platform, and even if the party filed a lawsuit for defamation, it was difficult to find the target of the lawsuit.
"In the Liu Xuezhou incident, some netizens ridiculed or accused his behavior, and some netizens commented excessively, but because of their real names in the background and the anonymity in the front desk in cyberspace, these netizens are actually rare and difficult to be held legally responsible, which in turn leads to their psychological role of not being responsible for the Liu Xuezhou incident as a vent for their emotions, acting arbitrarily and making negative comments at will." Li Huaisheng said.
In Li Huaisheng's view, in recent years, there are three main reasons why online violence has repeatedly led to tragedies but is difficult to manage: First, in a specific online violence incident, the causal relationship between behavior and results is difficult to determine. For example, in the Liu Xuezhou incident, it is difficult to argue that Liu Xuezhou's suicide was caused by a certain sentence of netizens;
Secondly, in the process of participating in the discussion of the incident, the attitude of netizens is also different, some are relatively extreme, some are particularly extreme, and some are relatively mild, and what kind of responsibility allocation each person should carry out in this process is difficult to determine under the existing legal framework, so this is not a problem that is missing at the legislative level, but a problem of law enforcement;
Third, the number of netizens is relatively large, and online supervision has objective limitations, such as it is difficult for online platform regulators to stop some bad behaviors in the first time, and it is also difficult to grasp the degree of freedom of speech and online violence.
"Many incidents of online violence actually reflect the lag in the construction of network ethics. The moral standard in the network is obviously weaker than the actual space, coupled with the difficulty of legal accountability in the network, the cost of rights protection is higher, and the standard of proof is also higher, which objectively leads to many people having no fear. Li Huaisheng said.
Strengthen platform responsibility
Strengthen law enforcement
Some legal personages have suggested that the implementation of the online real-name system can curb the occurrence of some adverse events and is an effective way to solve online violence. If the social platform effectively implements the online real-name system, at least there will be no situation where small numbers and private accounts are flying everywhere, nor will it appear in the situation where the network can slander, slander, frame, and personally attack others and get away with it.
In the view of the experts interviewed, it is not enough to rely on the online real-name system, but also to provide specific contact information, so as to facilitate the victim's prosecution. Moreover, as an important carrier of online interactive behavior, online platforms should be in an important part of the governance of network violence.
On the afternoon of January 24, in response to the "Liu Xuezhou Incident for a Boy Looking for Relatives", the official Weibo of Weibo Community Management released a message saying that according to user reports and complaints, the community minor protection special team conducted investigation and cleaning of relevant illegal content that leaked the personal privacy of the parties and provoked contradictions and disputes, and cleaned up 290 pieces of content. Subsequently, the official Weibo of Weibo community management said that it intends to launch two new features: one-click to open the "anti-riot mode", after opening, users can isolate comments and private message attacks that do not pay attention to people within an optional time; when users receive a large number of abnormal comments, a pop-up window will prompt users whether to open the privacy protection function.
"As an Internet service provider, the platform also has certain obligations such as communication, review, and taking necessary measures for the infringements committed by network users, and may also bear certain responsibilities under certain circumstances." In the event of online infringement, the right holder may promptly contact the Platform and request the Platform to provide necessary assistance. Because the platform has such an ability, it can deal with excessive speech from the background in a timely manner according to the complaint of the right holder. Meng Qiang said that for obviously infringing speech, the platform should deal with it in a timely manner.
Li Huaisheng believes that in the current situation where the relevant laws are relatively perfect, it is also necessary to pay attention to the problem of comprehensive management of the network society: the main responsibility should be strengthened, and the comments on some of the more extreme social hotspot events on the network, the violation of the privacy of others, and the comments on personal insults and attacks on others should be supervised in a timely manner, and some illegal information should be promptly disposed of, and if some information is suspected of crime, it is necessary to save relevant clues and report to the relevant state organs. Some typical cases can be investigated and handled in accordance with the law, declaring an attitude of zero tolerance for online violence, and guiding netizens to abide by discipline and the law and exercise their rights cautiously. Relevant departments, especially communities and local police stations, should also strengthen communication and liaison with themselves, and when they find that there are abnormal phenomena in the parties involved in network violence, they should promptly carry out psychological counseling and provide assistance.
"The Internet is not an extralegal place. No one can act recklessly on the Internet. When the victim encounters infringement on the Internet, he must also take up the legal weapon in time to protect his own rights and interests, and can first complain to the platform and save the evidence according to the provisions of the Civil Code and the Personal Information Protection Law. In the process of protecting the rights of the victim, the platform has the obligation to communicate, and when the evidence presented by the victim is more true, the platform is also obliged to take measures such as deletion, disconnection, and blocking in a timely manner. If the platform deliberately fails to take measures, resulting in the expansion of the damage consequences, the platform will bear the corresponding responsibility. Meng Qiang said that in addition, the relevant regulatory authorities should also strengthen law enforcement.
Liu Xuezhou said in a long post on Weibo that he left some evidence and recordings for the police in a mobile phone photo album, hoping that those who committed online violence would get the punishment they deserved. This is an indictment of online violence. How many tragedies will occur if online violence is not eradicated?
Source: Rule of Law Daily