August 2022
Lihui Jiang and Teresa Huang
The Cyberspace Administration of China has revised the Provisions on the Administration of Internet Comments Posting Services in accordance with relevant laws and regulations, and solicited public comments on the Provisions on the Administration of Internet Comments Posting Services (Revised Draft for Comments) (hereinafter referred to as the “Draft for Comments”) on June 17, 2022. The content of the revision mainly includes the following five aspects:
1. Strengthened the managerial responsibilities of comments posting service providers
In addition to maintaining the principle of “real name in the backend and voluntary in the foreground” to authenticate the real identity information of the registered users before the revision, Article 4 (4) of the Draft for Comments requires to implement the system of “examination before posting” for the information content of follow-up comments. Moreover, Article 5 of the Draft for Comments also stipulates that if a comment posting service provider with the attribute of public opinions or capable of mobilizing the general public plans to launch any new product, new application or new function, it shall carry out a security assessment in accordance with relevant provisions of the State.
2. Added the managerial responsibilities of public account producers and operators
Article 7 of the Draft for Comments provides that for any public account producer or and operator who fails to fulfill its self-management obligations, resulting in any illegal and undesirable information content appeared in the follow-up comments link, the comments posting service provider shall, according to the specific circumstances, take different measures up to closing the account and prohibiting re-registration against it in accordance with the applicable laws and agreements. In addition, according to Article 10 of the Draft for Comments, public account producers and operators shall also strengthen the examination management of follow-up comment information content posted by accounts registered with them, promptly discover illegal and undesirable information content in the follow-up comments link, take necessary measures such as reporting and active disposal, and save the relevant records, and report to the cyberspace administrations in a timely manner.
3. Added a new appealing system for disposed follow-up comment information
Article 13 of the Draft for Comments added a new appealing system as follows: if any comments posting service user disagrees with his/her follow-up comment information that has been disposed, he/she has the right to appeal to the comments posting service provider, the comments posting service provider shall verify and deal with the appeal in accordance with the user service agreement. This system not only provides both parties with an additional way to resolve the dispute, but also is conducive to mutual supervision.
4. Enhanced the control of misleading public opinion
Article 12 of the Draft for Comments requires all parties involved to refrain from infringing upon the legitimate rights and interests of others or seeking illegal benefits by publishing, deleting or recommending follow-up comment information and other means of interfering with the presentation of follow-up comment information. The parties shall not use software, hire commercial organizations and personnel to disseminate information, maliciously interfere with the normal order of follow-up comments, to mislead public opinion. The provision reflects the current increasing attention to the online public opinion environment and online violence.
5. Increased penalties for comments posting service providers who fail to fulfill their managerial responsibilities
Article 14 of the Draft for Comments clarifies that the penalties for comments posting service providers who fail to fulfill their managerial responsibilities include warning, notification of criticism, fine, suspension of comment posting functions, and stopping services, etc. Compared with the penalty of “interview” before the revision, the penalties are substantially increased.