The "Regulations on the Protection of Minors on the Internet" have been implemented for half a year and have achieved initial results. Clear cyberspace helps promote healthy growth
2024-06-13
The age of core reading's first access to the Internet is getting younger and younger, and the number of minor Internet users is expanding... The survey shows that the current number of minor Internet users in China is 193 million, and the Internet penetration rate of minors is 97.2%. Creating a conducive online environment for the physical and mental health of minors is a shared responsibility of the government, schools, families, and society. The promulgation and implementation of the Regulations on the Protection of Minors on the Internet have provided better institutional guarantees. The Internet is fully integrated into learning and life. While minors have more convenient access to knowledge and information, they also face risks such as bad information dissemination. The Regulations on the Protection of Minors on the Internet (hereinafter referred to as the Regulations) officially came into effect on January 1 this year, providing better institutional guarantees for creating a network environment conducive to the physical and mental health of minors. The Regulations have been in effect for half a year now. What are the new manifestations of online chaos involving minors in the past six months, and how can we improve regulatory and law enforcement effectiveness in a targeted manner? How can all parties implement relevant requirements to safeguard children's internet access? The reporter conducted an interview. Beijing citizen Sun Jie (pseudonym) discovered that his son, who was in elementary school, always secretly used his phone to "swipe" short videos in the middle of the night. "I have set up youth mode, and after 10 pm, parents need to enter their password to log in. How can I still play?" Sun Jie discovered the truth through covert observation. "Even if the youth mode is used, children can avoid the youth mode as long as they exit the current account and re register a new account with another mobile phone number." Sun Jie said, "I think there are loopholes in this youth mode, and it is difficult to strictly prevent minors from indulging." The spread of bad information, short videos, game addiction, online fraud, and theft of personal information... Internet chaos involving minors has long been a concern. Among them, insufficient and reasonable platform protection measures are an important source of network risk for minors. Previously, the National Internet Information Office publicly solicited opinions on the Guidelines for the Construction of Mobile Internet Juvenile Mode (Draft for Comments), which requires that after entering the juvenile mode, the mobile intelligent terminal should be verified and confirmed by parents before performing operations such as exiting the juvenile mode or restoring factory settings. "The platform should establish a more reasonable and rigorous model for minors to prevent measures from becoming mere formality," said Yu Xukun, Executive Director of the Beijing Youth Legal Aid and Research Center. The Regulations also require network product and service providers to promptly modify content, functions, and rules that may cause addiction among minors, and to disclose the situation of anti addiction work to the society every year and accept social supervision. The internet literacy of guardians is also crucial. According to the Fifth National Survey Report on Internet Use of Minors, 28.7% of parents said they did not know much about the Internet, and their main online behavior was watching news or short videos; In addition, 7.8% of parents stated that they do not know how to access the internet. "About 1/4 of parents believe that they are dependent on the Internet, which may have an impact on their management of their children's online behavior." Tong Lihua, director of the Beijing Youth Legal Aid and Research Center, said that some guardians have insufficient internet literacy, which exacerbates the problem of minors accessing the internet. In addition, technological advancements have also brought risks to the online protection of minors. Wang Xiao, the product manager responsible for content security on a certain short video platform, introduced that the rapid development of technologies such as generative artificial intelligence has also brought the risk of spreading harmful information to minors. Taking some "secret chat software" and AI drawing software as examples, ordinary monitoring methods may not be effective at times. In 2023, a judgment by a court in Shanghai attracted social attention: a game training app encouraged users, including minors, to engage in commercial and large-scale training transactions through its platform in the form of "cash back for orders" and the establishment of "special zones", which ultimately led to unfair competition by the court. Among them, the court specifically pointed out that the proxy training app has disrupted the anti addiction mechanism for minors. Minors can enter the game system without being restricted by time or duration by accepting proxy training orders, increasing the risk of minors becoming addicted to games and seriously affecting their physical and mental health. In this case, we imposed a pre litigation injunction and the respondent stopped their behavior at that time. This indicates a clear attitude towards protecting the healthy growth of minors Introduction by the relevant person in charge of the Intellectual Property Division of the court. At present, China has established a legal and regulatory system, including the Cybersecurity Law, the Law on the Protection of Minors, the Regulations on the Protection of Minors' Networks, and the Regulations on the Protection of Children's Personal Information Networks, to provide multi-level and multi-dimensional protection for the legitimate rights and interests of minors in cyberspace. Taking the "game practice" involved in this case as an example, the Regulations clearly require that online game service providers should verify the true identity information of minors through necessary means such as a unified electronic identity authentication system for minors in online games. However, the online chaos that endangers the physical and mental health of minors is constantly emerging in new forms, posing new challenges for regulation. "The governance of harmful information is gradually being optimized and improved, but the content and dissemination channels of such information exhibit characteristics of continuous iteration, fission, and rapid change, especially in relatively hidden social environments such as minors' communities and groups, forming some subcultural forms and trends." Lin Wei, President of Southwest University of Political Science and Law, suggested shifting the focus of governance from targeting specific information content to addressing the overall ecological atmosphere. In this regard, Liu Xiaochun, Executive Director of the Internet Rule of Law Research Center of the University of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, suggested that the regulatory authorities' requirements for the Internet platform should shift from the simple negative information elimination mode to the guidance and shaping of the positive atmosphere of the community, and control and guide the community atmosphere with obvious negative guidance through platform rules, community conventions and other ways. In the near future, many platforms are stepping up to upgrade and improve the youth model and the minors model: Kwai has formed eight privacy protection models for minors, including restricting minors' private messages, restricting strangers from paying attention to minors, and hiding minors' geographical locations; Starting from 2024, Watermelon Video will force users under the age of 14 with real name authentication to enter youth mode. "The online platform is the primary responsible person for information content management." Wang Zhenhui, a professor of China University of Political Science and Law, said that the Internet platform should do a good job of internal self-discipline, implement the relevant requirements of the Regulations on the minors' model, and strictly crack down on the content and behavior that infringe the legitimate rights and interests of minors. Relying solely on the underage model is not a long-term solution for cultivating internet literacy. Minors need to gradually adapt to the real online ecosystem during their growth process, and education guidance needs to 'teach them how to fish' Lin Wei said. Experts suggest that the Internet platform should bear the responsibility of self-discipline. On the one hand, it should actively purify the content of the whole platform, and on the other hand, it should improve protection measures, so that young people can be helped in a timely manner when they are injured, and can safely touch the online world. "We have fully understood your situation and now need to verify the relevant information. If the situation is true, the corresponding expenses will be returned to your account." At the Tencent Juvenile Guardianship Camp in Chengdu, Sichuan, staff are in phone communication with a suspected victim of fraud, and have promptly reported possible illegal clues to relevant departments. Through the national service hotline and the mini program of the minor parent service platform, the campsite provides users with a refund channel for applying for irrational consumption by minors, and sets up a special team to handle comprehensive network issues of minors. Jointly play the positive role of the Internet "In addition to risk prevention ideas, we should also see the positive enabling value of the Internet for the self-development and education of minors." Liu Xiaochun said. Not long ago, a short physics science popularization video went viral on the internet: on a mobile phone screen, a teacher held a "lightning wand" made from waste materials and pointed it at a hanging lamp in the classroom. An arc appeared at the top of the "wand" and lit up the lamp. Amidst the cheers of the students, he began to explain the knowledge point of "Tesla coils" behind the phenomenon. The "Thunderbolt Wand" video released by Xia Zhendong, a physics teacher in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi, received over 2.2 million likes. It is understood that last year, Tiktok, together with Science Popularization China, launched a youth science popularization creation plan to create a series of popular science videos suitable for young people to watch. This year, the Science and Technology Museum of China, the Propaganda and Education Center of the Ministry of Education and Tiktok also jointly launched the 2024 "Mobile Science Class" activity to organize "science popularization talents" to provide interesting science courses for primary and secondary school students in villages and towns. In the national digital literacy and skill enhancement actions carried out by departments such as cyberspace, digital literacy of young people has also been identified as one of the key points. In recent years, various online platforms have launched themed activities to assist the healthy development of minors with digital technology. Regarding this, Professor Wang Weiliang from Shandong University of Political Science and Law stated that the "Regulations" inherit relevant provisions of the Law on the Protection of Minors and establish a special chapter to regulate the promotion of online literacy, reflecting the preventive protection concept of prioritizing literacy promotion. All parties should further implement relevant requirements and promote the improvement of internet literacy among minors. In addition to platforms and regulatory authorities, parents and schools are equally important in guiding minors to use the internet in a healthy manner. "The government, enterprises, families, schools, social organizations, and others need to participate. Only with the joint efforts of all parties can the problem be effectively solved," said Tong Lihua. (Lai Xin She)
Edit：Jia jia Responsible editor：Liling
Source：People.cn
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