Nandu News is about to enter the "time of the two sessions." The Nandu reporter learned that Xiao Shengfang, a deputy to the National People's Congress and president of the Guangdong Lawyers Association, plans to submit to the conference the "Suggestions on Further Promoting the Healthy Development of the Online Show Live Broadcasting Industry".
On March 3, the Guangdong delegation to the Fifth Session of the 13th National People's Congress departed from Guangzhou for Beijing. The picture shows Xiao Shengfang, a deputy to the National People's Congress. Courtesy of respondents
Xiao Shengfang said that while bringing convenience to the people, the live broadcast of the online show has also caused a certain negative social impact, and the negative news caused by the live broadcast of the network show is not uncommon. For example, to a certain extent, the entire industry ignores the output of valuable content and turns to the formation of a bad atmosphere dominated by gimmicks and curiosity. At the same time, if the bad behavior and distorted values of some Internet celebrities are not effectively guided by regulatory authorities and live broadcasting platforms, it will have a greater impact on minors.
He suggested that an online live broadcasting association be established to adopt the model of combining state administrative supervision and industry self-discipline for management; divide live broadcasting into three types and take different measures; and formulate specific punishment measures for illegal and illegal acts of online live broadcasting.
Xiao Shengfang suggested that live broadcasts be classified according to live broadcast content, and that live broadcasts with professional knowledge and professional skills be encouraged and supported; live broadcasts that do not have professional knowledge and professional skills content but do not violate laws, regulations, and policies are not supported or opposed; and live broadcasts that are worthless, and violate the provisions of laws and regulations, and violate the principles of social order and good customs, are prohibited, and legal responsibilities are investigated.
Online live broadcasting has positive value, but there is also a development chaos
According to the 47th Statistical Report on the Development of China's Internet Network released by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) in 2020, as of December 2020, the number of online video users in mainland China reached 927 million, an increase of 76.33 million over March 2020, accounting for 93.7% of the total internet users. Among them, the scale of short video users was 873 million, an increase of 100 million over March 2020, accounting for 88.3% of the total netizens.
Xiao Shengfang believes that while the online show live broadcast industry has positive value, there are also some development chaos. Negative news caused by live broadcasts on the Internet show is not uncommon, such as the following news: the male cashier after the 90s embezzled 48.26 million public funds, and paid the anchor 20 million yuan for more than a year; the deceased husband rewarded the anchor with more than 2.5 million yuan, and the wife sued the court for return after discovery; the poor loan hundred thousand reward anchor: the circle of friends disguised as the rich second generation, the parents at home to eat low insurance; the 13-year-old girl spent her parents' 250,000 savings to tip the network male anchor, etc.
At the same time, the "tipping" behavior comes from money too quickly and too much, making many young people flock to the live broadcast industry, and the entire industry to a certain extent ignores the output of valuable content, and turns to the formation of a bad atmosphere dominated by gimmicks and curiosity. If this bad orientation continues to develop, it may lead to the shrinkage or even demise of the industry.
Minors are more susceptible to adverse information on live streams
Xiao Shengfang also believes that if the bad behavior and distorted values of some Internet celebrities are not effectively guided by regulatory authorities and live broadcast platforms, it will have a greater impact on minors.
In the proposal, Xiao Shengfang cited data from the "Special Report on the Protection of Minors' Online Rights and Interests in Nandu" released by the Research Center for the Protection of Minors in Nandu Metropolis Daily in 2021. The results of the summary of 4509 valid questionnaires in this report show that the proportion of short video applications such as Douyin and Kuaishou by minors accounted for 14.89% and 11.80% respectively, and the proportion of use far exceeded that of game applications (7.83%). Xiao Shengfang said that according to this data, among the minors, platform applications that carry live broadcasts of online shows are more popular than game applications.
When minors use short video applications, the most commonly watched content is celebrity and internet celebrity videos. Minors are more susceptible to the bad information conveyed by live broadcasts due to their immature minds. Xiao Shengfang believes that if the bad behavior and distorted values of some Internet celebrities are not effectively guided by regulatory authorities and live broadcast platforms, it will have a greater impact on minors.
At the same time, he pointed out that although the "juvenile model" that has been pinned high hopes at this stage has achieved certain results in actual operation, there are still many defects. Minors are prone to take advantage of various loopholes in live broadcast platforms, bypass the restrictions of the mode of minors, watch a large number of live network shows that are only suitable for adults, and some live broadcast platforms allow this to happen out of economic interests, and even assist minors to evade supervision by regulatory authorities.
Even adults are susceptible to the influence of bad content on online shows, which seriously affects normal production and life. It is not uncommon for adults to blindly tip their families to lose their homes; indulging in online live broadcasts, resulting in a serious impact on physical and mental health, is more numerous.
Xiao Shengfang believes that the online show live broadcast industry has reached a point where it must be rectified, and it is imperative to further strengthen the supervision and service of the network show live broadcast industry.
The governance effectiveness of online live shows needs to be improved
In recent years, administrative penalties for some illegal live broadcasting platforms have played a certain role in purifying the online live broadcasting environment. Xiao Shengfang also pointed out that the top penalty for some platforms is difficult to truly form a broad and long-term deterrent to the live broadcasting industry.
He pointed out that the relevant management departments mentioned in the "Regulations on the Administration of Internet Live Broadcasting Services" include the Office of the National Working Group on "Eliminating Pornography and Cracking Down on Illegal Activities", the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the State Administration for Market Supervision and Administration, the State Administration of Radio and Television, and many other departments. There is still a lack of communication and linkage mechanisms between various regulatory entities, and the phenomenon of fighting each other and even restricting each other.
Xiao Shengfang said that although there are many regulatory departments for online live broadcasting, from the national level, the state still lacks a unified top-level design for the administrative resources, information, standards, responsibilities and obligations of various departments. There is a lack of corresponding information resource sharing and coordination and communication mechanisms among various departments. This kind of supervision method can only curb the live broadcast chaos to a certain extent, and it is difficult to truly combat the breeding soil of live broadcast chaos from the source, and it is impossible to carry out extensive and long-term supervision of the live broadcast industry.
Therefore, the long-term governance burden of online live broadcasting falls on the self-inspection and self-purification responsibility of each online live broadcasting platform.
Xiao Shengfang pointed out that as a commercial entity, the main source of income of the live broadcasting platform is the revenue share of the rewards of the anchors signed by the platform. The so-called "top stream anchors" with a large share of the tip revenue are in a relatively advantageous position in the comparison with the power of the platform, based on the concern about the departure of the "top stream anchors", the live broadcast platform often has a relatively loose review of its anchor content, and often turns a blind eye to some "edge ball" illegal content. To conduct a meticulous and rigorous review of live content, the platform also needs to invest more labor costs in the construction of the team.
The profit-seeking nature of the live broadcast platform has led to its lack of motivation to take the initiative to conduct self-inspection and self-purification in the absence of rigid constraints in the system. Xiao Shengfang said that the governance effectiveness of the online show live broadcast governance model coupled with the general self-inspection of the platform and the case handling of administrative organs needs to be improved.
Recommendation: Establish industry associations and manage them by category
Xiao Shengfang said that the network live broadcasting industry is clean, so that it always remains on the track of benign development, and ultimately relies on the benign organic combination of regulatory authorities and live broadcast platforms. Xiao Shengfang further explained that it is necessary to first straighten out the relationship between various regulatory entities, build a channel for information communication and resource sharing, and uniformly formulate scientific standards for supervision; secondly, it is necessary to consider how to mobilize the enthusiasm of live broadcast platform self-inspection and self-purification in a systematic manner.
Xiao Shengfang proposed that it is necessary to carry out top-level design of online live broadcasting and give play to the self-discipline function of the industry. He suggested that the Internet Society's online live broadcasting branch or network live broadcasting association be established, referring to the setting model of industry associations such as lawyers associations, requiring platforms and anchors that conduct online live broadcasts to automatically become members of the association, abide by industry regulations, abide by professional ethics, and abide by professional discipline.
At the same time, with reference to the Model of the Supreme People's Court to Solve "Difficult Case Enforcement", a "Network Live Broadcast Supervision Platform" composed of multiple regulatory departments is established. The platform may be set up in the Cyberspace Administration of China to be responsible for daily supervision and management work, and the Cyberspace Administration of China shall, on the basis of the nature of the illegal conduct in the process of live streaming on the network or the nature of the conduct contrary to the principle of public order and good customs, push it on the platform to each specific regulatory department for handling, and publicize the processing process and results on the platform to give full play to the regulatory function.
Xiao Shengfang suggested that according to the live broadcast content, the live broadcast of the network show should be divided into three types, and different management measures should be taken respectively. Specific initiatives include:
One type of live broadcast is the live broadcast of professional knowledge and professional skills. If the anchor wants to apply for a type of live broadcast, it shall provide the corresponding qualification certificates, performance certificates, etc. for review by the platform staff, and report to the regulatory department for the record, and the specific judgment standards may be separately formulated by the relevant regulatory departments. Xiao Shengfang suggested that for a type of live broadcast, the state encourages, supports and advocates, and does not set a maximum amount of tipping and a limit on the number of times for live broadcast tipping.
Live broadcasts that do not have professional knowledge and professional skills content but do not violate laws, regulations and policies are classified as two types of live broadcasts, such as gossip news network live broadcasts that do not have "nutritional ingredients", "pure appearance" live broadcasts that do not have professional skills, and "dance" live broadcasts without receiving any professional dance training. Such live broadcast countries neither support nor oppose, and can be identified as class II live broadcasts. Implement a compulsory cooling-off period system for Type II live broadcasts, and at the same time, the upper limit and frequency setting of the tip amount and frequency setting of Type II online live broadcasts are vested in the regulatory authorities, and cannot be set by the network platform itself.
The three types of live broadcasts are worthless, and they violate the provisions of laws and regulations and violate the principles of social order and good customs. Three types of live broadcasts should be absolutely prohibited, and the legal responsibilities of those who provide three types of live broadcasts and platforms that violate the rules should be investigated.
In addition, Xiao Shengfang believes that although the current state has formulated many policies and regulations on online live broadcasting (including online live broadcasting), there are fewer provisions on specific penalties for illegal acts of online live broadcasting in these policies and regulations, and even if there are relevant provisions (such as the "Measures for the Administration of Online Performance Business Activities" promulgated by the former Ministry of Culture), the content of the regulations is relatively general, one-sided, and the practicality is not strong, which cannot play a corresponding regulatory and deterrent role.
Xiao Shengfang suggested that relevant departments should be organized to formulate specific measures for punishing violations and violations of the law in online live broadcasting, confirm the types of violations of laws and regulations by live broadcast platforms, live broadcasters and users, and make corresponding legal liability provisions according to the seriousness of the circumstances.
Written by: Nandu reporter Dai Guohui Intern Li Xiaoxin