In order to strengthen the network protection of minors and create a network environment conducive to the physical and mental health of minors, the State Internet Information Office recently released the Regulations of the State Council on Safeguarding the Healthy and Safe Use of the Internet by Minors (Draft for Comments) (hereinafter referred to as "Draft for Comments") for public comments.
At present, the Internet has been deeply integrated into the learning, social networking and cognitive growth process of minors. While the internet broadens the horizons of minors, it also brings about problems such as stranger social abuse, algorithm induced addiction, and risks of artificial intelligence interaction. The protection of minors on the internet faces complex and ever-changing new challenges. Looking at the world, many countries have enacted legislation to strengthen online protection for minors, and some regions have adopted a control model that directly restricts the use of social media by minors of specific age groups. The draft for soliciting opinions adheres to the national conditions, upholds the principle of "most beneficial to minors", and constructs a Chinese plan for the protection of minors that balances risk prevention and rights protection through refined institutional design.
To build a strong defense line for the protection of minors' networks, the first step is to draw a clear risk boundary and implement source isolation for high-risk services. Through persistent and focused governance by relevant departments, explicit risks such as "fan circle" tearing apart and online "box opening" have been effectively contained. However, risks continue to shift to the private domain circle, and "public domain drainage and private domain wrongdoing" have become prominent manifestations of infringement on minors. Scenes such as stranger online socializing, virtual intimate relationship services, and inducing excessive consumption can easily breed real-life hazards such as sexual harassment, emotional addiction, and property damage. The draft for soliciting opinions sets out a clear negative list of services, restricting high-risk services such as online socializing with strangers and virtual intimate relationships, and reducing the opportunities for minors to be exposed to high-risk scenarios from the service supply side. Outside the designated service restricted area, the draft for soliciting opinions simultaneously focuses on the important variable of algorithms, explicitly prohibiting the setting of algorithm models that induce emotional dependence, addiction, and excessive consumption among minors, achieving dual protection of risk isolation and algorithm governance. This institutional arrangement is not simply banning it, but intercepting high-risk elements in advance, separating minors from the risk of harm, while preserving their normal access to information and the online space for learning and communication.
Secondly, upgrade and improve the underage model, and establish a record verification mechanism. The underage model has been implemented in China for many years and has undergone multiple iterations and improvements, with distinct characteristics and advantages. However, in practice, there are also problems such as the underage mode of some platforms being too simple, easy to be cracked and bypassed, and uneven standards. Regulatory authorities also find it difficult to comprehensively grasp the construction of various platforms and terminal products. The draft for soliciting opinions further clarifies that the underage model should have the functional requirements of effectively identifying harmful and harmful information, protecting personal information, preventing addiction, and facilitating the performance of guardians, and encourages the construction of exclusive high-quality content pools to promote the extension of protection from simply blocking harmful content to providing high-quality content. At the same time, it is required to establish a mechanism for filing and annual verification of the underage model. Network platforms and intelligent terminals need to fulfill their filing obligations, extend protection requirements to the device access permit process, and strengthen the main responsibility of enterprises through annual verification, promote the filling of loopholes, and enable the underage model to truly serve the online needs of minors.
Finally, we will solve the problem of identifying "hidden minors" from an institutional perspective, strengthen the obligation of identity recognition on online platforms, and provide services in the form of minors on this basis, while ensuring the security of personal information. For a long time, a large number of minors have not voluntarily declared their age or activated the underage mode when using online services, making it difficult for this special protection measure to effectively play a role. If personal information is excessively collected for identity recognition, it will bring new risks and hidden dangers. The draft for soliciting opinions provides a institutional solution to this dilemma, which clarifies the platform's obligation to identify underage users, while providing a diverse compliance technology toolbox, such as legal identity verification, national network identity authentication public services, behavior feature recognition, non storage one-time face verification, etc., all of which can be selected in accordance with regulations. Among them, special constraints are imposed on facial verification, requiring the implementation of non storage one-time verification. The industry can implement it by accessing the official national verification system, only outputting judgment results, and strictly prohibiting the storage or use of relevant information for profiling, marketing, and other purposes. The design of relevant systems aims to improve the accuracy of identification, implement the obligation to protect minors, and firmly safeguard the bottom line of personal information security for minors.
Overall, the draft for soliciting opinions is based on the historical background and practical demands of the protection of minors' networks. It does not adopt a "one size fits all" comprehensive ban on various real risks in the practice of minors' networks, but rather builds a digital security zone for minors, which not only strengthens the risk firewall but also guarantees their digital participation and development rights. We look forward to the draft soliciting opinions from all sectors of society, accelerating the legislative process, continuously improving the supporting regulatory system, strengthening government supervision, promoting professional evaluation, building a safer and more friendly digital environment, and safeguarding the healthy growth of minors in the digital age. (Outlook New Era)