"Rice circle" grows disorderly, how to correct deviation according to law
"Fanquan" is a group formed by fans spontaneously in pursuit of people or things they love in common. The "fan circle" has also had a positive impact on the real society: the "fan circle" crowdfunding donations in public welfare activities can not only help the needy groups, but also can convey positive energy; the "fan circle" rational creative support behavior also helps Promote the development of cultural industries. However, with the disorderly growth of the "rice circle", many chaos have occurred, causing serious social harm. In order to consolidate the ideological foundation and strengthen the guidance of public opinion, it is necessary to improve and optimize relevant laws in a timely manner, correct the chaos of the "rice circle" in accordance with the law, and strengthen the governance efficiency of the "rice circle".
1. Control and comment manipulate the space of public opinion, and there is a blind spot in legal supervision
One of the chaos in the "fan circle" is speech control, which manifests in two forms: one is the abuse of the reporting mechanism by fans.
Some fans classify the normal comments of ordinary netizens as malicious black comments. Once they find negative or dissident voices involving idols’ names, abbreviations, and pronouns, they advise the publisher to modify, delete, or instigate fan groups to make complaints.
The second is the homogenous information of fans.
Screening scenes mainly include: the control and comment team produces promotional materials, and fans consciously forward them on a large scale to increase the popularity of idols; screen idol information in film and television drama comment areas, brand merchants live broadcast rooms, etc. to demonstrate the influence of idols; when idols show negative public opinion At the time of the incident, fans defended in a unified way, or published massive amounts of positive content to suppress negative hot searches.
Although the above phenomenon does not touch the legal red line, it violates the moral bottom line and seriously affects the orderly development of online public opinion.
"Fanquan" abused the reporting mechanism, turning governance tools into a means for fans to retaliate privately.
At the same time, the "fan circle" spontaneously refreshing the screen with homogeneous content will artificially concoct hotspots, affect the orderly spread of the network, will also encourage fans to continue to support the rankings and irrational consumption in order to maintain their popularity, and will also cause fans to disqualify as idols regardless of right or wrong. Acts justified, and even shielded and beautified idols’ illegal and criminal acts.
Recently, the Central Cyberspace Administration of China issued the "Notice on Further Strengthening the Management of Chaos in the "Rice Circle"" (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice"), proposing to continue to disband the fan communities and groups rated as themes.
The "Notice" vigorously rectifies the common harm caused by large-scale control and evaluation by the control group, but in addition to communities and groups, there are also harms caused by spontaneous control and evaluation by fans that should be paid attention to.
2. Cyber violence has a wide range of harms, and the overall management of public and private matters is equally important
The second chaos in the “fan circle” is cyber violence. Its common manifestations are: vilification, insults, derogation, and threats to others; compiling and spreading rumors; insulting the image of others by making pictures; searching for and exposing others’ addresses, units, etc. Private information such as ID numbers; leaking, buying and selling celebrity’s residence, itinerary and traffic information, etc.; tracking, peeping, and taking pictures of celebrities, publishing, selling, and exhibiting their secret images without the celebrity’s consent; hacking into celebrities’ private residences through phone calls, text messages, Harass celebrities by emails and other methods.
The "Notice" clearly requires all platforms to promptly discover all kinds of harmful information such as clearing up "fan circle" fans, such as mutual insults, stigmatization, and rumors attacks, and strictly deal with illegal and illegal accounts.
Although the title is a punishment measure, according to the actors and the severity of the circumstances, cyber violence should be punished more.
In terms of the protection of personality rights and interests: First of all, according to the provisions of the Civil Code, publishing insulting or defamatory remarks, causing a substantial reduction in the social evaluation of others, constitutes a reputation infringement.
If the circumstances are serious, in accordance with the provisions of the Criminal Law, constitute a crime of insult or defamation.
Secondly, the aforementioned acts of making pictures, secretly photographing and publishing constitute portrait infringements.
Finally, according to the provisions of the Civil Code, human flesh searches and information leaks illegally expose personal information that individuals do not want to be known to others. Tracking and intrusion disturbs the physical and private space of others, and information harassment disturbs the peace of life of others. Privacy infringement.
In terms of social security protection: insults, slanders, intimidation and other acts that endanger public order shall be punished in accordance with the provisions of the Public Security Management Punishment Law.
Those with bad circumstance shall be convicted and punished for the crime of creating disturbances and provoking disturbances in accordance with the "Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Handling of Criminal Cases Using Information Networks for Defamation and Other Criminal Cases".
Anyone who fabricates false information and causes serious disorder in public order shall be convicted and punished for the crime of creating disturbances and provoking disturbances in accordance with the provisions of the Criminal Law.
For the behavior of buying or selling other people's information, if the circumstances are serious enough, they will be punished as the crime of infringing on citizens' personal information.
3. Improper fund-raising hidden risks, and regulatory measures need to be strengthened
The third chaos in the "fan circle" is fan fundraising, that is, individual fans, support clubs and other groups or celebrities and their studios organize fan fundraising for ranking, voting, buying gifts and support materials, and holding offline promotional activities. behavior.
There are serious legal risks in fan fundraising, including opaque fund operation, unknown destination of fundraising, and illegal embezzlement by promoters.
The "Notice" stipulates that all platforms should promptly discover and clean up all kinds of illegal aid fundraising information; website platforms that focus on problems, fail to perform responsibilities, and induce minors to participate in aid fundraising, punish penalties in accordance with laws and regulations; continue to investigate and deal with and provide voting for rankings , Should aid fund-raising overseas websites.
As for fund-raising activities without platform participation and voluntary organization and management by fans, legal issues can be regulated from the civil and criminal perspectives.
At present, the academic circles have not yet unified the legal nature of fan fundraising.
One view is that fan fundraising is a commission relationship, and it is usually free commission.
The initiator is the trustee and shall report to the participant (the client) the purpose of fund-raising, the details of income and expenditure, and the handling of the assistance affairs. According to the provisions of the Civil Code, if the trustee causes losses to the client due to deliberate or gross negligence, the client may Claim compensation for losses; if the trustee exceeds its authority and causes losses to the principal, it shall compensate for the losses.
Another view is that fan fundraising is a civil gift relationship, and it is often a gift with obligation.
According to the provisions of the Civil Code, when the sponsor fails to fulfill the obligation of assistance, the participant has the right to revoke the gift and request the return of the property.
According to the criminal law, improper fund-raising may also constitute the crime of fraud and embezzlement.
First, the fund-raising promoters deliberately fabricated the facts of assistance, deceived fans to pay assistance fees, and illegally possessed the proceeds, which constituted the crime of fraud.
Second, the fund-raising promoter entrusted other fans to keep and dispose of the finances, which was taken as their own but not used for assistance, and reached a relatively large amount. After being discovered, other fans still refused to return it, and were convicted of illegal embezzlement.
However, the above-mentioned laws do not regulate the process, frequency, amount, participants and managers of fund-raising.
4. Offline activities disrupt public security, and strengthen efforts to prevent and control diversion
The fourth chaotic phenomenon of the "rice circle" is disturbing public security, which is manifested in three aspects: First, a large number of fans gather and congestion in shopping malls, airports and other public places to watch stars, which will interfere with the normal operation of public areas and cause disorder. Crowding destroys public facilities, trampling injuries, etc.
Second, fans extend online violence to offline, to contain, harass, and attack others, endanger the personal safety of others, and threaten social order.
Third, fans have transformed online irrational emotions into offline collective actions due to group infection, increasing the difficulty of real governance and increasing social risks. For example, well-known artists are arrested for crimes, and some emotional fans gather in front of the police station for them. Vocalize.
In this regard, relevant departments should increase governance efforts, both online and offline, to strengthen diversion and prevention and control, not only to monitor improper online speech in real time, but also to rectify illegal gatherings in accordance with the law.
According to the Law on Public Security Administration Penalties, the above-mentioned acts involving disrupting the order of stations, ports, docks, airports, shopping malls, parks, exhibition halls or other public places shall be given a warning or a fine of not more than 200 yuan; if the circumstances are more serious, they shall be fined not less than five days and ten. If detained below the day, a fine of not more than 500 yuan may be concurrently imposed.
According to the criminal law, fans have the following behaviors: beating others at will, the circumstances are bad; chasing, intercepting, and insulting others, the circumstances are bad; making disturbances in public places, causing serious disorder in public places, etc., which constitute the crime of picking and provoking disturbances.
5. Jointly build a long-term governance mechanism to create a clear cyberspace
In order to effectively prevent the chaos in the "rice circle" from eroding mainstream ideology, infiltrating wrong thoughts, and threatening social security, relevant departments should sum up practical experience and challenges on the basis of governance in accordance with the law, and optimize rectification measures.
First, build a long-term governance mechanism.
"Rice circle" has gradually become a social phenomenon, and its guidance and regulation should become normal work.
The current governance practice faces challenges: First, there is a lack of complete regulatory rules. Special activities address the symptoms but not the root cause. Once the activities are over, similar chaos may come back.
The second is the lack of unified management standards, and it is difficult to evaluate the implementation effects.
In this regard, relevant departments must clarify the scope of rights and responsibilities of all parties in accordance with the law, link platforms, stars and their affiliated companies, and ordinary citizens, build a multi-party governance grid, strengthen daily supervision, and improve inspection and assessment standards, and urge the platform to establish a unified management System to enhance platform self-inspection and self-inspection capabilities.
Second, the existing rectification rules must be optimized.
The existing governance basis for fans' control and comment behavior is mainly the "Notice" issued by the Central Cyberspace Administration of China.
The "Notice" requires the platform to vigorously dissolve the fan communities and groups rated as themes. It has achieved remarkable results since its implementation. However, only cleaning up the control and comment groups may ignore the spontaneous fan-scrolling behavior and lack of protection against malicious intent. Regulations for reporting and accusing.
In order to further strengthen the advance prevention and control efforts, specific rules need to be optimized and improved.
Finally, the rule of law and the rule of morality are combined to give play to the leading force of morality.
The governance of the "rice circle" should not only be guaranteed by punitive regulations, but also be based on moral concepts.
Stimulate the positive energy of the "rice circle" and correct the wrong direction of the "rice circle".
Regarding the platform, the law must not only stipulate its supervisory responsibilities, but also emphasize its publicity obligations.
The platform should actively recommend excellent cultural works, and encourage fans to pay attention to the pioneering deeds of moral models in various fields.
Regarding celebrities and their affiliates, relevant departments should introduce regulations. First, they should regulate celebrities’ words and deeds, play their role as role models, and drive fans to participate in public welfare; second, clarify management obligations, urge them to correct the misbehavior of the “fan circle”, and supervise the fund-raising procedures and flow. .
At the school and family level, young people should be guided to "knock the first button in their lives", educate the correct view of right and wrong, and lead the concept of healthy pursuit of stars.
(Author: Wang Tianzheng, a researcher at the Beijing Xi Jinping Research Center for Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and a professor at China University of Political Science and Law; Cui Yao, a doctoral student at China University of Political Science and Law)