Investigate motives
During the two sessions of the National People's Congress this year, some members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference proposed that at present, many live broadcasts and short video content have positive energy value, but there are also many kinds of vulgar, kitsch, vulgar short videos and live broadcasts. It is recommended to carry out hierarchical management and time period management for live broadcasts and short videos, strengthen platform responsibilities, and maintain the clarity and positive direction of cyberspace.
Why do vulgar short videos appear in large numbers, what adverse effects will they bring, and why is it difficult to cure? How can we make short videos develop in a healthy and orderly manner? With these questions in mind, a reporter from the Rule of Law Daily conducted an investigative interview.
□ Zhang Shoukun, a trainee reporter of this newspaper
□ Zhao Li, a reporter of this newspaper
The scantily clad female anchor scratched her head, said provocative words, and shouted "Daddy" to the fans who hit the first place in the list; known as the rural live broadcast, a group of people wearing big red suits, sick suits, green hats, strange behavior, and even rolling on the ground; in the "funny video", a man sat on the steps eating instant noodles, the fork fell off, and a bucket of instant noodles was all buckled in his face... This is a variety of vulgar short videos that the reporter of "Rule of Law Daily" saw when he brushed a number of short video platforms in recent days.
In the investigation and interview, the reporter found that some short video bloggers did not hesitate to sensationalize in order to attract traffic, and deliberately designed strange and vulgar performances to increase exposure. In recent years, although the regulatory authorities have continuously increased the governance of short video vulgar content, the phenomenon of short video vulgarity has not been eradicated, and some anchors have continued to "change vests" after being dealt with, seriously polluting the network environment.
According to the 48th statistical report "The Development of China's Internet Network" released by the China Internet Network Information Center, as of June 2021, the number of online short video users in China reached 888 million, an increase of 14.4 million over December 2020, accounting for 87.8% of the total internet users.
With the rapid development of short videos, vulgar short videos have also emerged on some platforms, constantly refreshing people's cognitive bottom line. According to the survey report "Characteristics and Protection of Short Videos Used by Primary and Secondary School Students" released by the China Youth Research Center, 29.7% of minors believe that short videos are mostly vulgar.
For example, in December last year, there was a short video that was widely circulated on the Internet - in the video, a man dressed in white put a basin in front of him, with a rope tied around his neck, lying on the ground to go to school, screaming and preparing to grab the contents of the basin to eat; in front of him, a man in black was kicking the basin with his foot, making it look like he didn't want to give him food. Some people in the comment area ridiculed, some people scolded morbidity.
Li Jie (pseudonym), a college student from Yibin, Sichuan Province, often brushes short videos, and he said with deep feeling: "Now many short videos are full of insults and rough plots, and some bloggers dress up as dead people, their faces are painted white, their lips are painted black, and their bodies shake with music." It's hard to understand why there are so many vulgar short videos on the platform. ”
Ai Hongqiang, a lawyer at Beijing Jingshi (Quanzhou) Law Firm, said that vulgar short videos not only violate social order and good customs, but also belong to illegal creation. The Provisions on the Governance of the Ecology of Online Information Content, implemented in March 2020, make it clear that online information content producers shall take measures to prevent and resist the production, reproduction, and publication of negative information containing content that promotes vulgarity, vulgarity, and kitsch.
Vulgar short videos are disgusting to the vast majority of people. A number of parents from Beijing and Tianjin said in an interview with reporters that vulgar and soft pornographic short videos flooded the Internet, and some short videos were shocked and blushing when they looked at them, and children could brush them if they were not careful, seriously infringing on the physical and mental health of minors.
But on the other hand, these vulgar short videos are often tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands or even more clicks, and are "sought after" into "blockbusters", allowing bloggers to make a lot of money and allowing some platforms to successfully drain traffic.
Why?
"The reason why vulgar short videos are difficult to cure is because vulgarity has the social function of hunting, voyeurism and venting in human society, and the anonymous traffic of the Internet caters to this demand." Zeng Zhi, a researcher at the Center for Journalism and Social Development of Chinese Min University, once held the opinion.
Zhou Jun, director of the Institute of Network Public Opinion of Chinese Min University, told reporters that the reason why vulgar short videos occupy a certain market for a long time is essentially driven by the attention economy, and getting more traffic means getting more attention, so that greater economic benefits can be obtained. "Some short video live broadcast platforms themselves are not strictly censored, in order to traffic use algorithms to push vulgar content to users of videos, anchors will also choose to cater to the algorithm to create vulgar short video content to win attention in order to earn traffic."
Li Jie told reporters that when he really can't see it, he will choose to report it. "After the report, the platform will send a notice that 'after verification, the user you reported does have a violation and has been punished accordingly', but often within a few days, you can brush the short video of the blogger, and the content is still the same as before." Li Jie said that after some of the anchors involved were suspended, they continued to broadcast or send videos with trumpets or other accounts, "At least three or four such anchors have been seen in the past six months."
Zhou Jun said that the harm caused by the proliferation of vulgar short videos may not be obvious in the short term, but in the long run, it will destroy the values, moral order, and cultural traditions of the entire society.
In response to this phenomenon, the relevant departments of the state have taken active actions.
On September 2, 2021, the State Administration of Radio and Television issued the Notice on Further Strengthening the Management of Literary and Art Programs and Their Personnel, requiring resolute resistance to pan-entertainment tendencies such as vulgar "Internet celebrities" and bottomless trials. In December 2021, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism issued the Opinions on Strengthening the Protection of Minors in the Online Cultural Market, requiring resolute handling of undesirable content such as showing off wealth and worshipping money, extravagant pleasures, and selling misery and "judging ugliness", deeply promoting the comprehensive management of the cultural and entertainment field, and strengthening the protection of minors online.
According to the official website of the State Administration of Radio and Television, after the special governance of short videos was carried out in October 2021, more than 10 short video platforms continued to supervise and clean up 383,900 illegal accounts and 1.024 million illegal short video programs within two months. A large number of "pseudo-positive energy" programs and "net red children" profit accounts have been cleaned up.
Recently, according to netizens' reports and complaints and investigation and verification, the Shandong Zaozhuang Internet Information Office and relevant platforms jointly banned the "Tengzhou Ahao" account that published vulgar short videos; in response to individual anchors who repeatedly published vulgar videos through short video platforms, which seriously violated the core socialist values, the Internet Information Center of the Propaganda Department of the Huining County Party Committee of Gansu Province interviewed the parties one by one and ordered them to delete relevant illegal information.
In addition to the relevant departments to strengthen supervision and governance, Ai Hongqiang believes that the platform should also fulfill its responsibilities and obligations. Paragraph 2 of article 80 of the Law on the Protection of Minors provides that where network service providers discover that users have published or disseminated information containing content that endangers minors' physical and mental health, they shall immediately stop transmitting relevant information, employ disposition measures such as deleting, blocking, or disconnecting links, preserve relevant records, and report to departments such as for internet information and public security.
"To curb the vulgarization of short videos, platforms should strengthen their responsibility for reviewing and supervising content, promptly delete and remove short videos of vulgar content, and cancel accounts." Ai Hongqiang said.
In response to the past "net red village" storm, "Half Moon Talk" magazine also pointed out in relevant comments that ugly behavior, vulgarity, and spoofing should not be used as network traffic and selling points, and the emergence of "net red village" is the result of the failure and connivance of relevant platforms, and it is urgent for regulatory authorities and live broadcast platforms to formulate a more stringent punishment system.
In Zeng Zhi's view, in order to control vulgar short videos, it is first necessary to include them in the orbit of the rule of law. "It is necessary to improve legislation, try to clarify the boundaries of vulgar concepts, and introduce a grading system for online content."
He analyzed that the platform should actively respond to the requirements and punitive measures put forward by relevant departments, and deal with vulgar short videos and manufacturers. At the same time, relevant content producers should be informed and trained to avoid the production of vulgar content. "Platforms should establish an information exchange mechanism to adopt a consistent attitude towards vulgar content producers who have repeatedly banned it, so as to prevent a single platform from punishing vulgar content producers for fear of traffic loss."
"In order to eradicate the phenomenon of vulgar short videos, it is necessary to cut off the economic lifeblood of vulgar short videos." It is recommended to set up relevant courses in primary and secondary schools, increase the publicity of the rule of law, and let children know from an early age how to distinguish vulgar content, how to resist and report it. In Zhou Jun's view, with the substantial improvement of public media literacy, vulgar short videos will slowly lose the market, and without traffic, there will be no one to produce these contents.
Source: Rule of Law Daily
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