Culture

Actively guide minors to scientifically explore the internet

2025-10-17   

Recently, the Cyberspace Administration of China, together with relevant departments, drafted the "Measures for the Recognition of Network Platform Service Providers with a Large Number of Minors and Significant Impact on the Minors Group (Draft for Comments)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Recognition Measures"), and publicly solicited opinions from the society. This measure is not only a detailed implementation of the obligations required by the Regulations on the Protection of Minors on the Internet, but also a key step towards the deep integration of minors into the current online environment and the improvement of the protection system. The "Research Report on Internet Platforms with Significant Impact on Minors (2024)" released by Beijing Normal University shows that the current online usage behavior of minors presents deep integration characteristics, significant stratification of usage duration, and a high concentration of platform dependence on the "social+entertainment" mode. Consumer behavior is also young and accompanied by irrational risks, and they also face situations such as learning and social imbalance in the process of using the Internet. To guide minors to access the internet in a scientific way, relevant departments need to work together, define protection boundaries, and establish a governance approach that is perfect in system, collaborative in subject, and education first, in order to create a healthy, safe, and creative online growth space for minors. The formulation of the "Identification Measures" has solved the problems of unclear regulatory targets and unclear division of responsibilities at the institutional level, and has delineated clear responsibility boundaries for the protection of minors' networks. Previously, although relevant laws and regulations have clearly defined the universal protection obligation of online platforms for minors, how to accurately identify platforms that have a significant impact on the underage population has always been a difficult point for regulatory implementation in the face of millions of online platforms. The "Identification Measures" provide actionable quantitative standards, which mention that both platforms dedicated to serving minors and platforms aimed at the general public with 10 million registered or 1 million monthly active underage users must bear special protection responsibilities. Such detailed requirements have shifted the platform's obligation to protect from general discussions to precise implementation, avoiding the "flood flooding" of protection responsibilities and building the first line of defense for the protection of minors on the internet. The online protection of minors is a complex system engineering that involves multiple entities such as schools, families, society, and enterprises. It is urgent to establish a multi-dimensional collaborative linkage mechanism between families, schools, social enterprises, etc. By breaking down departmental barriers and integrating resources from all parties, a lasting and strong protection force can be formed. From a practical perspective, it is necessary to establish a cross departmental collaboration mechanism led by the departments of cyberspace and education. Through regular joint meetings, sharing of regulatory data, and joint implementation of special actions, barriers to individual efforts should be broken down to achieve a governance effect of "1+1>2". If schools and families can build a strong internal and external defense line for the protection of minors' networks, it will undoubtedly benefit the protection of minors' networks. More importantly, relevant enterprises should take the initiative to assume social responsibility, shift from "passive compliance" to "active innovation", incorporate the protection of minors' online activities into the corporate social responsibility evaluation system, develop more intelligent content filtering technology for minors through institutional guidance and technological innovation, design product functions that are conducive to their growth, etc., so that the platform can truly become the guardian of minors' online activities. In the long run, the core of online protection for minors lies in improving their online literacy through education, enabling them to resist online risks and fully utilize online resources for personal growth. In recent years, the digital education strategy has continued to deepen, providing a strategic opportunity for the education of minors' online literacy. Digitization of education is not only a technological innovation, but also a reshaping of educational concepts and models. This requires us to accelerate the transformation of traditional cognition and equip minors with the ability to coexist with the internet through education. On the one hand, incorporating online literacy education into the national education strategic framework, deeply integrating online literacy education with school education, family education, and social education, and building a comprehensive and all encompassing education system, so that minors can continuously improve their skills in using the internet and better adapt to the constantly changing online environment. On the other hand, emphasis should be placed on enhancing the digital "immunity" and creativity of minors, supporting them to use the internet to learn knowledge and showcase their talents, and truly transforming the internet into a growth booster. In the digital age, the online protection of minors is not only related to talent cultivation, but also to the future talent competitiveness of the country. I believe that with the effective implementation of the "Identification Measures", relevant systems will become increasingly perfect, strengthen school enterprise cooperation, deepen the pertinence and effectiveness of online literacy education, open the door to the digital world for minors, and enable them to become builders and beneficiaries of digital civilization. (Xinhua News Agency) (Authors: Yuan Ying and Fang Zengquan, respectively a lecturer at the School of Journalism and Communication of Beijing Normal University and a researcher at the School of Journalism and Communication of Beijing Normal University)

Edit:He ChenXi Responsible editor:Tang WanQi

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