Internet firms will gain by heeding rules

Cyberspace regulators recently directed Douyin, a popular platform for short videos operated by ByteDance, and Chinese search engine Sogou to carry out rectifications for their illegal advertisements insulting martyrs. Two experts share their views with China Daily’s Yao Yuxin on the issue and internet regulations. Excerpts follow:

Since enterprises are established to make profits, they can break every possible business, economic and moral code in the absence of proper regulations, and this is especially applicable to internet companies.

Therefore, laying down proper rules and regulations is crucial for maintaining order in the market. The government should set nationwide standards based on adequate research and surveys, and only after being convinced they are practical. And learning from foreign experiences, the government should introduce a rating system.

Moreover, it is also important to improve market governance, so cyber regulators have to keep

updating the standards to keep pace with the changing trends and technological developments — for instance, identifying homosexuals as “mentally ill” is considered offensive today.

Therefore, the law enforcement agencies have to keep upgrading and diversifying their means to effectively nip any attempt to break rules in the bud, apart from closing down illegal social media accounts and apps for committing serious offenses.

Shen Yi, director of the Cyberspace Governance Research Center at Fudan University It is a big challenge to remove all vulgar and illegal materials from the internet, including the pornographic and violent materials on some popular video platforms, because millions of livestreaming and short videos are being produced and upload- ed online. Some video platform users may risk everything to attract maximum followers and thus make maximum-possible profits. And computer algorithm based on big data could spread those vulgar and illegal materials even faster if strict regulations are not in place.

In order to solve this problem, internet companies should be made to shoulder their social responsibility, by allowing only clean, decent and acceptable contents to be uploaded on their platforms. The companies may lose some profits in the short term, but their action is sure to bring them long-term benefits.

Besides, the existing regulation on lewd content lacks clear standards. For example, what exactly is violent pornography, and the exposure of which parts of the body, and to what extent, is banned? In particular, those internet companies under investigation can’t be brought to book if different law enforcement agencies hold different views on the same issue, and the confused enterprises have to make up for the gray areas of the regulations based on their own understanding, which could be inaccurate.

So specific and standardized rules, and strict law enforcement are necessary to clear the uncertainties and help the internet companies avoid falling in trouble.

The livestreaming and short video platforms are like newborns. They should be treated with patience and given a healthy atmosphere to grow up into ethical and virtuous “adults”. Of course, they should be scolded and punished for their mistakes, and dealt with a firm hand when the situation demands. Without these conditions, anxious and even temporarily wayward internet companies could be excluded from the “innovation club”.

So specific and standardized rules, and strict law enforcement are necessary to clear the uncertainties and help the internet companies avoid falling in trouble.

Wang Sixin, a professor in the Faculty of Literature and Law at Communication University of China