The Regulations on the Protection of Minors Online will come into force on January 1, 2024, and is China's first comprehensive legislation specifically for the protection of minors online. The Regulations have a total of 7 chapters and 60 articles, focusing on the promotion of online literacy, the regulation of online information content, the protection of personal information online, and the prevention and control of online addiction, marking a new stage in the construction of online protection for minors in our country.
In particular, the regulations emphasize the special responsibilities of "large platforms". Young people are the future of the motherland and the hope of the nation, and the "big platform" should be aware of the possible negative impact of its own products on minors from the perspective of caring for the future of the country. As of June 2023, the scale of China's netizens has reached 107.9 billion, of which the number of minor Internet users exceeded 19.1 billion, and the proportion of rural minors using the Internet is also increasing year by year. However, minors' online skills are mainly used for entertainment, games, chat and shopping, and basic literacy such as hardware knowledge and online learning are relatively lacking. At the beginning of the design of corresponding Internet products and services, it is necessary to fully consider the psychological characteristics and behavioral habits of minors, establish corresponding compliance systems and special protection rules, and do not have any thoughts of playing on the sidelines, let alone become a "hunting ground" for infringing on minors.
The regulations clarify the responsibilities of family guardianship, school education, and functional departments. Improving minors' online literacy is inseparable from the joint efforts of families, schools, and society as a whole. Parents' online behavior has a role in teaching minors by word and deed, which can effectively promote minors' healthy online use, and the better the parent-child relationship, the stronger the child's online cognitive ability, technical ability and creative ability;Under the school's existing curriculum system, the educational content related to network literacy has not been comprehensively, reasonably, and scientifically incorporated into all stages of compulsory education, and neither the course content nor the number of class hours, nor the teaching staff and teaching level, can fully meet the needs, and schools should assume important responsibility for the education of minors' network literacy, raise minors' awareness of network security, guide minors to use the Internet in a healthy and civilized manner, establish a correct view of the Internet, and truly protect the physical and mental health of minors;Functional departments should have the courage to take responsibility, and actively and decisively "show their swords" against all kinds of conduct that violates the information security of minors, forcing all online products to be truly responsible for minors. Only when everyone participates and draws concentric circles to protect minors' cybersecurity can a strong atmosphere for the joint protection of minors be formed.
Holding up a clear sky for minors and protecting their legitimate rights and interests is also protecting our future.
*:Great Wall Network Jiyun Client丨Author: Lv Haifeng.