On December 15, 2019, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) promulgated the Provisions on the Governance of the Online Information Content Ecosystem (hereinafter referred to as the "Governance Provisions"), which came into force on March 1, 2020, in order to create a positive online ecosystem, protect the lawful rights and interests of citizens, legal persons and other organizations, safeguard national security and the public interest, and build a clear cyberspace.
The "Governance Provisions" embody the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instructions on "network security work should adhere to network security for the people, network security by the people, ensure the security of personal information, and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of citizens in cyberspace", with network information content as the main governance object, with the goal of establishing and improving a comprehensive network governance system, creating a clear cyberspace, and building a good network ecology, highlighting the "government, enterprises, society, and netizens" This is a milestone event in the field of rule of law in the governance of the online information content ecology in mainland China, and the "online information content ecology" is the goal of cyberspace governance legislation, which is also the first in the world.
I. The governance of the online information content ecosystem conforms to the concept of "people-centered".
The word ecology (Eco-) is derived from the ancient Greek word that refers to the home of human beings or the environment in which they live. In his speech on April 19, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that cyberspace is the common spiritual home of hundreds of millions of people. Cyberspace is clear and ecologically sound, which is in the interests of the people. The miasma of cyberspace and the deterioration of the ecology are not in the interests of the people. No one wants to live in a space full of falsehood, fraud, attacks, abuse, terror, pornography, and violence.
The "Governance Provisions" defines "governance of the online information content ecosystem" as activities such as promoting positive energy and handling illegal and negative information carried out by governments, enterprises, society, netizens, and other entities with the cultivation and practice of the core socialist values as the foundation, online information content as the main governance object, and the goal of establishing and improving a comprehensive network governance system, creating a clear cyberspace, and building a good online ecology.
The above definition reflects the spirit of "establishing and improving a comprehensive network governance system, strengthening and innovating the construction of Internet content, implementing the main responsibility of Internet enterprise information management, comprehensively improving network governance capabilities, and creating a clear cyberspace" proposed in the "Decision" of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, especially the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping on "national cybersecurity work should adhere to network security for the people and network security by the people, ensure the security of personal information, and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of citizens in cyberspace" It is in line with the "people-centered" development concept and has laid a solid foundation for the rule of law for the mainland to establish a comprehensive network governance system.
II. The "Governance Provisions" highlight the diversity of entities governing the online information content ecosystem
The governance of the online information content ecosystem should clarify the governance model of pluralistic participation and collaborative co-governance, and break through the dualistic opposition and single-dominant model of the market and the government. In the era of digital economy, it is necessary to re-examine the functions and roles of the four main bodies of government, enterprises, society, and netizens in the governance of the network ecology with the mode of platform thinking and social thinking. They are no longer a relationship of domination and domination by the subject, but a partnership relationship based on common interests and goals.
The "Governance Provisions" clarify the governance model of multiple participation and co-governance of the government, enterprises, society, netizens and other entities. In fact, the network information content ecology is a system composed of a variety of civilization elements, which mainly include network subjects, network information, subject behaviors, technology applications, infrastructure guarantees, network policies and regulations, and network culture. The author believes that among the four major entities involved in the governance of the online ecosystem, the role of the government is to supervise, the obligation of enterprises is to fulfill their responsibilities, the function of society is to supervise, and the obligation of netizens is self-discipline.
First, the state internet information department is responsible for the overall planning and coordination of the governance of the national online information content ecosystem and related oversight and management efforts, and each relevant regulatory department is to do a good job of governance of the online information content ecosystem on the basis of their respective duties;
Second, online information content producers are organizations or individuals that produce, reproduce, or publish online information content, and shall abide by laws and regulations, follow public order and good customs, and must not harm the national interest, the public interest, or the lawful rights and interests of others, and in particular, online information content service platform enterprises shall perform their primary responsibility for information content management, strengthen the governance of the platform's online information content ecosystem, and cultivate a positive, healthy, and upward online culture;
Third, giving full play to network supervision as an important form of supervision of network information content is the most effective, simplest, and most direct form of social supervision, and can form a situation in which everyone is supervised and everyone is supervised in the field of network information content governance;
Fourth, the Internet era has brought mankind into an era of unlimited content production, and everyone is a content producer. Therefore, the governance of online information content is more about regulating and correcting their own behavior in the form of self-discipline of netizens, which is an extremely important aspect of the ecological governance of online information content.
3. The "Governance Provisions" focus on regulating the three major management counterparts
In the administrative-legal relationship of online information content ecosystem governance, citizens, legal persons, and other organizations corresponding to the administrative entity are the administrative counterparts of online ecological governance. In view of the fact that the object of online ecological governance is online information content, and the ecological governance of information content mainly involves three types of subjects, namely, content producers, content service platforms, and content service users, the Governance Provisions focus on regulating these three administrative counterparts.
First of all, online information content producers are organizations or individuals that produce, reproduce, or publish online information content, and as organizations or individuals that produce online information content, on the premise of complying with laws and regulations, they must also follow public order and good customs, and strengthen the construction of online civilization;
Second, online information content service platforms are network information service providers that provide online information content dissemination services, and shall focus on establishing mechanisms for the governance of the online information content ecosystem, one is to formulate detailed rules for the governance of the platform's online information content ecosystem;
Third, users of online information content services are organizations or individuals that use online information content services, which are the main force in the governance of the network ecosystem, and should strictly abide by two bottom lines: first, they should use the network in a civilized and healthy manner, and earnestly perform their corresponding legal obligations in accordance with the requirements of laws and regulations and user agreements; At the same time, it has the obligation to exercise the right to supervise the content of illegal and negative information on the Internet by means of complaints, reports, etc.
The "Governance Provisions" make it clear that the founders and managers of online groups and forum community sections shall perform management responsibilities and regulate the publication of information in groups and forums in accordance with laws and agreements;
IV. The 10 Red Lines Prohibited by Online Information Content Producers
At present, mobile Internet applications (App) have become the main carrier of mobile Internet information service production, and have played a certain role in providing people's livelihood services and promoting economic and social development, at the same time, a small number of apps have also been used by criminals to spread illegal and illegal information such as violent terrorism, obscenity, pornography and rumors, and some have behaviors that harm the legitimate rights and interests of users such as stealing privacy, malicious deductions, and deception and fraud, and most apps collect personal information excessively, and set up so-called "privacy terms" The infringement of users' rights to personal information has a strong social reaction.
As of December 2019, 3.67 million apps had been monitored in the mainland's domestic market, and the total number of apps distributed in third-party app stores reached 950.2 billion, of which 116.6 billion social communication downloads were made. According to data released by Tencent, in 2019, the number of monthly active accounts on WeChat alone exceeded 1.15 billion, and the overall number of monthly active accounts on QQ increased to 823 million, with nearly 45 billion messages transmitted in WeChat every day.
General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed that the use of the Internet to advocate the overthrow of state power, incite religious extremism, propagate ethnic separatism, instigate violent terrorist activities, etc., must be resolutely stopped and cracked down, and must not be allowed to prevail; No country would allow such behavior to spread. In this regard, Article 6 of the "Governance Provisions" clarifies ten red lines that online information content producers are prohibited from touching:
(1) It opposes the basic principles set forth in the Constitution; (2) it endangers national security, divulges state secrets, subverts state power, and undermines national unity; (3) it harms the honor and interests of the state; (4) it distorts, scandalizes, desecrates, or denies the deeds and spirit of heroes and martyrs, and infringes upon the names, likenesses, reputations, and honors of heroes and martyrs by insulting, slandering, or other means; (5) advocating terrorism or extremism or inciting terrorist or extremist activities; and (6) inciting ethnic hatred; Ethnic discrimination undermines national unity; Seventh, it undermines state religious policies and propagates cults and feudal superstitions; eighth, it spreads rumors and disrupts economic and social order; nineth, it spreads obscenity, pornography, gambling, violence, murder, terror, or instigates crimes; and tenth, it insults or slanders others and infringes upon others' reputation, privacy, and other legitimate rights and interests.
Where online information content producers violate the above provisions, online information content service platforms shall employ measures such as warnings and corrections, restricting functions, suspending updates, or closing accounts in accordance with laws and agreements, to promptly eliminate the illegal information content, store records, and report to the relevant regulatory departments.
V. Online information content producers shall guard against and resist the eight types of negative information
The "Governance Provisions" require online information content producers to take measures to prevent and resist the production, reproduction, and publication of negative information containing the following eight types of content:
1. Use exaggerated titles, and the content is seriously inconsistent with the title. "Title party" is the use of a variety of creative titles on the Internet to attract the attention of netizens, in order to achieve various purposes, its main behavior in short, that is, the title of the post is seriously exaggerated, and the content of the post is usually completely unrelated to the title or has little connection, such as shock, shock, blockbuster, rare, in-depth good article, sensational nationwide, top secret candid photography and other words. The author searched the Internet for titles such as "shocked 1.3 billion Chinese", "moved 1.3 billion people in China", "heavyweight", "in-depth good article" and other headlines, the content of which is completely inconsistent with the title, and most of them mislead netizens in exaggerated, distorted, sensational or even out of nothing.
2. Hype up scandals, scandals, bad deeds and other information content. At present, the entertainment industry is full of hype scandals, scandals and bad deeds, using celebrity scandal gossip as a gimmick, especially through the cooperation of celebrities and paparazzi to create scandals, scandals, and bad deeds.
3. Inappropriately commenting on the content of information on natural disasters, major accidents, and other disasters. The mainland has a vast territory and a dense population, and there are many types of natural disasters, and major safety accidents occur from time to time. The author has noticed that whenever natural disasters and major safety accidents occur, there are always some comments that have no basis in facts, which not only confuse right and wrong, but also have a great negative impact on society, and must be resolutely resisted.
4. Content with sexual innuendo, sexual provocations, or other information that is likely to cause people to have sexual associations. In order to attract traffic, some online platforms use text, voice, pictures, videos and other methods to carry out bad behaviors with "sexual provocation" and "sexual suggestion", such as the so-called "Wenai", "knock cannon", etc., these information content are sexually suggestive or sexually provocative soft pornography, which is very easy to make people have sexual associations.
The definition of obscene materials in the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China is that of obscene books, periodicals, films, videos, pictures, etc., which specifically depict sexual acts or explicitly promote pornography, but excludes scientific works on human physiology and medical knowledge, as well as literary and artistic works of artistic value containing pornographic content, from the scope of pornographic materials.
5. Showing bloody, terrifying, cruel and other information content that causes physical and mental discomfort. In order to deceive users into clicking on them, some online content producers publish and display bloody, thrilling, and cruel pictures and videos, such as websites that publish a large number of uncomfortable pictures of shocking, bloody, animal cruelty, and malformed fetuses, and are also suspected of being a "title party", causing people to feel extremely uncomfortable physically and mentally, especially the psychological damage to minors is extremely serious.
6. Information content that incites discrimination against people, regions, etc. Incitement refers to the act of instigating and inciting people to do bad things, and we often see on the Internet that some people spread and publish radical remarks such as regional discrimination and group discrimination on the Internet based on just a few words they see. For example, an online post that "the hospital cannot explain to the public for multiple medical accidents" incited discrimination against doctors by the local population, and the publisher was administratively detained for 10 days by the public security organs on suspicion of picking quarrels and provoking trouble.
7. Information content that promotes vulgar, vulgar, or kitsch content. There are mainly two types of information contents: one is vulgar content, which mainly refers to content that is low-grade and vulgar, and makes people languid and decadent; and the other is kitsch information content, which is mainly those that cater to the world, lack self-thinking and self-reason, and only know how to go with the flow; these vulgar, vulgar, and kitsch information contents are incompatible with the mainland's excellent moral culture and the spirit of the times, and must be resolutely resisted.
8. Information content that might cause minors to imitate unsafe behaviors or conduct that violates social morality, or induce minors to have bad habits. At present, there are nearly 170 million minors in mainland China, and smartphones have become the main tools for minors to access the Internet.
6. The common prohibition of sexual conduct by the three major management counterparts
The "Governance Provisions" require online information content service users, online information content producers, and online information content service platforms to jointly create a positive online ecosystem, and the following prohibitive provisions must not be implemented.
1. Do not use the network and related information technology to insult, slander, threaten, spread rumors, infringe on the privacy of others and other illegal acts, and harm the legitimate rights of others. The perpetrator's use of the Internet and related information technology to insult, slander, threaten, spread rumors, and infringe on the privacy of others is a serious infringement, which involves not only online information content producers, but also online information content service users and online information content service platforms.
According to the Tort Liability Law, if a network user uses a network service to commit an infringing act, the infringed party has the right to notify the network service provider to take necessary measures such as deleting, blocking, or disconnecting the link. Where network service providers fail to take necessary measures in a timely manner after receiving notice, they are jointly and severally liable for the expanded portion of the harm and the network user. If a network service provider knows that a network user is using its network services to infringe upon the civil rights and interests of others, and fails to take necessary measures, it bears joint and several liability with the network user.
2. Do not infringe upon the lawful rights and interests of others or seek illegal benefits through publishing, deleting information, or other means of interfering with the presentation of information. In the author's opinion, it is necessary to focus on the governance of illegal acts such as online information content service platforms publishing, reprinting, and deleting information in order to seek improper benefits, as well as interfering with the presentation of information content or search results.
3. New technologies and applications such as deep learning and virtual reality must not be used to engage in activities prohibited by laws and administrative regulations. Deep learning of AI is widely used in search technology, data mining, machine learning, machine translation, natural language processing, multimedia learning, and other fields. Both deep learning and VR technology are directly related to information content, and the use of these technologies shall comply with laws and regulations, follow public order and good customs, and shall not harm the national interest, public interest and the legitimate rights and interests of others.
4. Conduct such as traffic fraud, traffic hijacking, false account registration, illegal transaction accounts, or manipulation of user accounts must not be carried out through manual or technical means, to undermine the order of the online ecosystem.
In recent years, the black industry of the Internet such as app swiping, e-commerce swiping, and public account swiping has been repeatedly exposed, and some internet application platforms have used technical means to tamper with, induce and other illegal methods to direct other users' users to their own products or services, carry out traffic hijacking, and obtain improper commercial benefits. The author has noticed that many online illegal and black transactions are related to false registration accounts, illegal trading accounts, manipulation of user accounts and other behaviors, which has formed a black industry chain, through false registration of accounts, illegal trading accounts, and manipulation of user accounts, a large number of account resources can be obtained, and network identities can be provided for illegal acts, so as to conceal real identities, create false traffic, increase the difficulty of traceability, and evade legal prosecution.
5. The Party flag, Party emblem, national flag, national emblem, national anthem, and other logos and content that represent the image of the Party and the state must not be used, or in the name of major national events, major anniversaries, and state organs and their staffs, to carry out online commercial marketing activities in violation of laws and regulations.
According to the provisions of the "Constitution of the Communist Party of China," party organizations at all levels and every party member must safeguard the dignity of the party emblem and party flag, and must produce and use the party emblem and party flag in accordance with the regulations; the national emblem and the national anthem are the national image logo and content stipulated in the "Constitution," and no commercial organization may use them for commercial marketing activities.
VII. Oversight mechanisms for the governance of the online information content ecosystem
The "Governance Provisions" require all levels of internet information department, in conjunction with relevant regulatory departments, to establish and complete working mechanisms such as information sharing, consultation and notification, joint law enforcement, case supervision, and information disclosure, to coordinate efforts to carry out governance of the online information content ecosystem. In fact, the supervision of online information content governance in mainland China is not only the responsibility of the cyberspace department, but should comprehensively grasp all elements and links of the comprehensive network governance system, and strengthen the top-level design of collaborative system supervision.
The supervision of online information content focuses on the supervision of the performance of the main responsibility of information content management by online information content service platforms, especially for the disorder and chaos of self-media, and platform enterprises have an unshirkable responsibility. It should be pointed out that information content platform enterprises are not only service providers for self-media operations, but also maintainers of order in the self-media industry, and must fulfill their responsibilities and obligations, operate in accordance with the law, and strictly perform their main responsibilities for information content management.
The "Governance Provisions" require that all levels of internet information department establish a ledger management system for violations of laws and regulations by online information content service platforms, and handle them accordingly in accordance with laws and regulations. In the author's opinion, the ledger management system for violations of laws and regulations by online information content service platforms is an important management system for platform enterprises, reflecting and recording the dynamic situation of the violations of laws and regulations of various types of information content on the platform, as well as the dynamic situation of distribution area and quantity, etc., and providing strong facts and evidence for the competent online authorities to implement information content regulation.
On the whole, the "Governance Provisions" embodies the state's sovereign value orientation in the field of online information content ecological governance, demonstrates the dialectical relationship between freedom and order, openness and autonomy, management and service in cyberspace, and focuses on the overall planning and coordination of the ecological governance of online information content. (Author: Wang Chunhui, Chief Expert, Institute of Information Industry Development Strategy, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications)
Source: China Network Information Network, Yangtze River Cloud
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