Prevent Internet addiction and control harmful information (letters and interviews, pay attention to the online environment of young people (Part 1))
Our reporter Shi Yiqi
"People's Daily" (Edition 07 on March 22, 2021)
On the Internet, money has become a series of numbers, which can easily cause young people to “reward” excessively without knowing it out of psychology such as following the trend and showing off. Regulations such as enabling real-name authentication and identifying young people’s identities conflict with the commercial interests of the company.
The newly revised Law on the Protection of Minors will be implemented on June 1. There is a separate chapter on “Internet Protection” for minors, which clearly stipulates that online product and service providers shall not provide minors with products and products that induce their addiction. service
Readers and experts suggest strengthening supervision, urging Internet companies to actively fulfill the main responsibility of content management, provide high-quality content, and normalize the operation of the background data push content of the youth model; parents should pay more attention to their children, take more care, and strengthen interest guidance
The China Internet Network Information Center recently released the 47th "Statistical Report on Internet Development in China". The report shows that as of December 2020, the number of Internet users in my country has reached 989 million, and Internet users aged 10 to 19 account for 13.5%. Students accounted for 21%.
Among them, the group of school-age teenagers has become one of the relatively large groups of netizens.
The Internet is an important way for young people to obtain information and get to know the world. However, the content on the Internet is mixed, and it is easy to cause harm to young people who are not sound and have weak self-control ability.
Many readers wrote to this newspaper, reflecting on the various problems that adolescents have in the process of surfing the Internet, and calling on relevant parties to form a joint governance force to jointly create a positive and healthy online environment for young people.
The youth model is in vain, and the real-name authentication system is greatly reduced
"From the first day of the winter vacation, children have played games with their mobile phones every day." The child of reader Tu Minxia, a reader from Zhangzhou City, Fujian, has just entered junior high school and recently became obsessed with a mobile game that lasts for several hours.
This made Tu Minxia worried.
Online games are popular among teenagers, but parents worry about them.
According to the "Statistical Report on China's Internet Development Status", as of December 2020, the number of online game users in my country has reached 518 million, accounting for 52.4% of the total Internet users; the number of mobile online game users has reached 516 million, accounting for 52.4% of mobile Internet users.
Teenagers account for a large proportion.
In order to prevent young people from indulging in online games, relevant departments require that online games must introduce a youth model, restricting and regulating young people's online behavior in terms of usage time, duration, functions, and browsing content.
However, the reporter found in the investigation that there are many loopholes in the youth model of some online games, and the real-name system and other regulations are also useless.
Tu Minxia said that in order to prevent children from indulging in online games, she turned on the youth mode and set a 4-digit password. Only by entering the correct password can the game duration limit be lifted.
But she soon discovered that the child's playing time far exceeded the claimed time limit.
It turned out that the child spent a few dollars on a certain e-commerce platform to purchase a tutorial to crack the youth mode of this game, and used some tools to crack the password forcibly, and smoothly lifted the time limit of the youth mode.
The reporter found that in addition to cracking the password, there are many ways to circumvent the youth mode, such as logging out when the time is up, and then opening and playing in the guest mode, or simply uninstalling the game, re-downloading and installing.
What's more, some online games have VIP permissions, and you can get the privilege of lifting restrictions as long as you top up a certain amount.
In addition to the youth model, the relevant departments also clearly require that online games must be registered with real names in order to achieve the purpose of identifying the age of users.
But in fact, many platforms and games are trying their best to circumvent this regulation. Some provide third-party account login methods to circumvent real-name system supervision, and some require real-name registration, but only need to enter the ID number and use the parent’s ID number. By registering, or even finding an ID number on the Internet, you can smoothly avoid supervision.
“Some online games not only do not strictly restrict the registration of young people, but also actively blur the identities of young people, intentionally or unintentionally targeting young people to induce them to indulge in online games.” Chen Chen, a reader from Shanghai, said that a growing group of young netizens implies With huge commercial interests, regulations such as enabling real-name authentication and identifying young people’s identities actually conflict with the commercial interests of enterprises. Therefore, some game operating companies are not positive about implementing real-name authentication systems.
Live content is not regulated, and platform rewards lack restrictions
In recent years, live broadcasting has gradually become the outlet of the Internet industry, attracting a large number of netizens, many of whom are teenagers.
However, some online platforms lack content control and supervision, opening the door to live broadcasts with soft pornographic and violent nature. The platforms make a lot of money, but the young people suffer greatly.
According to the requirements of relevant departments, the live broadcast platform should build an exclusive content pool for young people and provide content suitable for young people to watch.
However, the reporter found in the investigation that the youth model of some live broadcast platforms did not build exclusive content pools, or the exclusive content pools had problems such as homogenization and inferiority.
The reporter randomly opened a mobile phone live broadcast software with the highest downloads, chose to enter the youth mode, and soon saw an anchor scratching his head and performing erotic dances, which was obviously not suitable for teenagers to watch.
In addition, there are also live video broadcasts of violence and terror, which shows that the youth model of this software does not actually screen and screen the live content.
In addition, some criminals use live webcasts to trick young people into performing obscene performances.
The National "Anti-Pornography and Anti-illegal" Office has previously announced a number of cases.
For example, in the in-depth investigation of the "Pocket Entertainment" live broadcast platform conducted by the Public Security Bureau of Zhaoqing City, Guangdong, criminal gangs tricked minors into performing obscene performances. The police successively arrested 112 criminal suspects and rescued 36 minors in 15 provinces. , Frozen and seized funds of more than 12 million yuan.
"Regarding issues such as pornography in live broadcasts, relevant departments should have zero tolerance and resolutely crack down on them in accordance with the law." Zhong Yihui, a reader from Tangshan City, Hebei Province, believes that on the one hand, we must strengthen supervision and urge Internet companies to actively perform the main responsibility of content management. On the one hand, we must dig in and investigate thoroughly, and severely punish criminals in accordance with the law.
"My child is 14 years old and likes to watch some natural and technological videos, but the content pushed by some platforms is poorly produced, inferior, and some even have common sense errors." Beijing reader Wang Zhaojing said that teenagers of different ages are concerned about the content. There are big differences in demand. If the platform pushes some videos full of errors and omissions to teenagers to watch, it is likely to have an adverse effect on children's learning.
In addition, many readers have put forward opinions and suggestions on the issue of "rewarding" when young people watch the live broadcast.
Liu Qiguang, a reader from Yulin City, Shaanxi Province, reported that some live broadcast platforms have a youth model that is limited to watching live broadcast pages, but users can still enjoy tips or enter the mall for consumption.
"Young people often lack a specific concept of money, especially on the Internet. Money becomes a series of numbers. It is easy for young people to "reward" without knowing it out of psychology such as following the trend and showing off." Liu Qiguang said in recent years. It’s not uncommon for young people to reward huge sums of money. In addition to further improving laws and regulations, certain restrictions should be imposed on young people’s use of payment functions to solve this problem from the source.
Relevant departments must implement precise policies, and companies and parents must perform their respective duties
On June 1, the newly revised Law on the Protection of Minors will be implemented. A separate chapter will be set up for “Internet Protection” for minors, which clearly stipulates that online product and service providers shall not provide minors with products and products that induce their addiction. Services; network service providers such as online games, webcasting, online audio and video, and online social networking shall set up corresponding time management, authority management, consumption management and other functions for minors to use their services.
"The homogeneity and inferiority of content in the exclusive content pool for teenagers means that the types of content on the corresponding platforms are limited or do not meet the needs of teenagers, which easily prompts them to have the idea of bypassing the restrictions on the youth model." Party Secretary of the Beijing Internet Finance Industry Association Xu Zewei said that in order to make online games and live broadcast platforms more friendly to young people, Internet companies should strictly implement their main responsibilities. On the one hand, they must abide by relevant laws and regulations and regulations of the regulatory authorities, and establish a youth model that truly exerts a restrictive role. The background data and push content of the youth model are operated in a normal manner, and only by providing high-quality content can they form a benign interaction with users, and should not be left unattended.
"In addition to strengthening supervision, relevant departments must also implement precise policies on the implementation details of the youth model." Xu Zewei believes that at present, the management of content suitable for young people needs to be strengthened. "What content should be watched by young people, and which should not be watched. Look; which are suitable for 13-year-olds and which are suitable for 15-year-olds, lack of clear definition."
Some Internet companies have reported that users have passed real-name authentication before recharging games and live broadcast "rewarding", and it is difficult for the system to determine whether they are real-name authentication.
In this regard, Yang Gangyuan, an associate professor at the School of Journalism of Renmin University of China, suggested the introduction of face recognition technology. Any user must turn on face recognition before making a payment. Only when the real-name authentication information matches the face recognition can proceed to the next step of payment and consumption. program.
"Even if the youth mode of each software can run effectively, there will be new problems. For example, a software is limited to 40 minutes, but the multiple software on the mobile phone is superimposed, and the total time for teenagers to surf the Internet is still uncontrollable, and it is difficult to solve the problem of being addicted to the Internet. Question.” Yang Gangyuan suggested whether it is possible to develop a software that summarizes the use time of various software in the mobile phone and analyze the actual use information of each software. Parents can also set the total time in advance. Once the time expires, it can also be controlled remotely.
Li Kang, a reader from Wuhan City, Hubei, believes that many parents either objectively lack understanding of the Internet, are not adaptable enough, or subjectively fail to attract enough attention, fail to fulfill the guardian’s obligations and assume responsibilities. “Parents should be more concerned about their children. , More supervision, more interest guidance, and games and live broadcast platforms should not be blamed blindly when problems arise."
In addition, schools should also take the initiative to play a role and focus on network quality education in related courses to help young people understand and use the Internet correctly.