Multiple million and tens of millions of anchors have been banned! What "red lines" did they all step on?

Since July this year, in just over a month, several top tier internet celebrity self media accounts with millions or even tens of millions of followers have been banned by mainstream platforms.

On September 2nd, the account of internet celebrity anchor "Xiucai" with 12 million followers was banned. Just a few days ago, on August 31st, the car critic "Mr. Cai" with over 2 million fans was banned and also made it to the hot search. In mid August, the top anchor of a short video platform with over 48 million followers, "Er Lv Di," was indefinitely banned

These self media "big accounts" have been banned, some because they have been reported for illegal activities, some because they have fabricated false facts, and some because they have "fabricated scripts for live streaming." Ultimately, they are all one thing: stepping on the "red line".

The "scholar" account has been banned.

Recently, the Central Cyberspace Administration issued a notice on strengthening the management of "self media", which put forward clear requirements for strengthening the management of "self media" from 13 aspects, including strict prevention of counterfeiting and counterfeiting, strengthening information authenticity management, standardizing account operation behavior, and improving fan quantity management measures, and also set a "red line".

So, for the majority of self media, which "red lines" cannot be crossed? What kind of punishment will be imposed on self media who violate regulations? What impact will the introduction of the new regulations have on industry practitioners?

one

The self media industry in China has developed rapidly in recent years.

The latest Statistical Report on the Development of Internet in China released by China Internet Network Information Center shows that by December 2022, the number of Internet users in China has reached 1.067 billion, and the Internet penetration rate has reached 75.6%.

The massive number of internet users contains enormous business opportunities, making "self media" a huge industry with millions of practitioners. According to data from iResearch Consulting, as of 2021, the number of full-time self media professionals in China has reached 3.7 million, including 9.7 million part-time employees. They constantly meet people's information needs and services, while also gaining traffic and economic benefits themselves.

However, while enjoying the dividend of the Internet, some "We Media" adhere to the principle of "traffic first", and try hard to "take shortcuts", specifically pinpoint the pain points and pleasure points of users, or spread false information, or produce and release rumors, which seriously pollute the network ecology and even violate laws and regulations.

Since March this year, the Central Cyberspace Administration has deployed the "Clean and Strict Rectification of Chaos in Self Media" special action. From the self media accounts dealt with in this action, there are mainly three types of "self media" that have been "heavily attacked".

One is the dissemination of rumors, harmful information, and false information. For example, in July this year, a message about a man offering a reward of millions to search for a dog surged on the hot search. After the incident escalated, the "blue background and white characters" from the Zhengzhou police arrived, and the announcement of this information was fabricated by the person in charge of a certain media limited company. Not only is the account gone, but the fabricated person has also been punished with 15 days of detention.

According to the information released by the Central Cyberspace Administration after the special action, various levels of cyberspace departments will shut down "self media" that first or frequently spread rumors in accordance with the law and agreement; For self media who knowingly spread rumors or false information, as well as participate in malicious hype, measures such as banning, clearing fans, suspending or canceling profit-making privileges shall be taken.

The second is that Li Gui impersonates Li Kui and disguises himself as an authoritative organization. For example, fake military accounts such as the "Chinese Red Army Command", "Chinese Anti Terrorism Force", "Strategic Missile Force", impersonating public institutions such as the "Chinese Academy of Sciences" and "Nanyang Center for Disease Control and Prevention", as well as "People's Daily News First Release" and "Morning News World" disguised as news media... For such "self media", the account name can be cleared, banned, fans can be cleaned up, and profit-making permissions can be suspended or cancelled. In severe cases, the account can be permanently closed.

The third is to speculate on hot topics, gain traffic, and illegally monetize. For example, some accounts may use the curiosity and thirst for knowledge of netizens to make false statements, deceive clicks, reposts, and tips, incite gender, ethnicity, class, and regional conflicts, and lure fans into a narrow "information cocoon". Some even induce consumption to cheat consumers out of their money. For such situations, once identified, they will also be banned, cleared of fans, suspended, revoked of profit-making privileges, or even banned.

two

From blogs and personal websites in the past to Weibo, WeChat, and video live streaming today, many "self media" have entered a corporate operation and profit driven business model.

This has led to a significant increase in the dissemination power of self media. In many hot topics, the discourse influence of many "big Vs" is no less than that of traditional mainstream media. It can be said that there are many cases where a single sentence or video from self media triggers an event.

Therefore, in response to the above-mentioned self media "stepping on the red line" behavior, regulatory authorities at all levels have already taken action. For example, in October 2018, the National Cyberspace Administration and relevant departments will carry out a special campaign to clean up and rectify the situation. And every year thereafter, special actions will be regularly launched to rectify the "self media" industry.

The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposes to improve the comprehensive network governance system and promote the formation of a good network ecosystem. Since the beginning of this year, the governance of issues such as online water armies, self media chaos, online rumors, and false information in various regions has become more systematic.

In Zhejiang, since the beginning of this year, the Cyberspace Administration of the Provincial Party Committee, in conjunction with various departments such as the Provincial Public Security Department, the Provincial Market Supervision Bureau, the Provincial Radio and Television Bureau, and the Provincial Communication Management Bureau, has organized a series of special actions such as "Clear Zhejiang", "Clean Net 2023", "Hundred day Anti Rumor", and "Management of Medical Advertisements on Online Audiovisual Platforms". A total of more than 700000 pieces of information have been cleared, more than 470000 accounts have been closed, and 541 apps have been improved and improved.

And nationwide, the number of self media being processed this year is even larger. As of May 22, the national key platforms have cleared more than 1.4109 million pieces of illegal information, disposed of more than 927600 illegal accounts, of which more than 66600 were permanently closed. This set of data demonstrates the abundance of illegal self media and the determination to crack down on them.

The release of the Notice on Strengthening the Management of "Self media" has further added a spark to optimize the online communication environment and purify the "self media" ecosystem. According to this document, self media platforms, self media practitioners, government departments, and others all need to fulfill their respective roles and contribute to shaping a clean and upright online space.

Taking self media platforms as an example, out of this 13 article document, 7 mention the responsibility of the website platform. For example, requirements:

Website platforms should strengthen the verification of self media account information to prevent accounts that have been closed in accordance with the law from being re registered;

It is necessary to clarify the conditions for opening profit-making permissions and restrict illegal behaviors from profiting;

The website platform should promptly verify and eliminate the increased number of followers of self media due to violations;

The website platform should establish a sound management system for MCN institutions, and implement centralized and unified management of MCN institutions and their contracted accounts;

.

In fact, the platform is gradually strengthening its crackdown on illegal self media. On September 6, Weibo and Kwai platforms announced their recent remediation.

Recently, Weibo has disposed of over 140000 "self media" accounts. Kwai only targeted the news hot spot of "Japan's Fukushima nuclear contaminated water discharged into the sea", and punished 130 We Media accounts that released false statements and carried out marketing hype by restricting the flow to permanent ban.

three

What does strengthening the management of "self media" mean for practitioners?

Some self media people feel that they have been shackled and subject to many restrictions. In fact, the main thing that the regulatory authorities crack down on is the unscrupulous behavior of deceit, abduction, and fraud, which is actually a big advantage for self media who take content seriously.

In the Notice on Strengthening the Management of "Self media", many contents directly point to the chaos in the industry, aiming to create a fair and just market environment for those "self media" who rely on professionalism and strength to speak, and promote the healthy development of the industry.

For example, the Notice emphasizes the authenticity of the published content and requires self media to accurately label the source of information when publishing information related to domestic and international current events, public policies, social events, etc. If using self captured images and videos, relevant information such as shooting time and location should be marked one by one. Images and videos generated using technology must be clearly labeled as generated using technology. When citing old news and events, it is necessary to clearly state the time and location of the event at that time.

For mainstream media, these requirements are the most basic knowledge and skills. But for some self media, violating these requirements is the source of traffic. This has seriously affected the credibility of the entire self media industry.

Recently, a survey conducted by media in collaboration with third-party organizations showed that 80.1% of respondents would hold a skeptical attitude when seeing messages posted by self media. Specifically, 60.9% of respondents would first place a question mark and wait for confirmation from authoritative mainstream media. 19.2% of respondents directly chose not to believe, believing that many of them were marketing hype and spreading rumors. 76.9% of respondents reported a low level of trust in self media, with 11.9% stating that it is very low.

Strengthening management is undoubtedly the top priority in order to salvage such an impression. Only by guiding practitioners to adhere to the bottom line of fair competition, reducing chaos such as sparking wars and spreading rumors, can we avoid "bad currency driving out good currency" and maintain a healthy order of online dissemination.

At present, China has successively promulgated laws, regulations and departmental rules such as the Law of the People's Republic of China on Network Security, the Administrative Provisions on Internet Group Information Services, the Administrative Provisions on Internet Live Broadcasting Services, the Administrative Provisions on Internet Follow up Comments Service, and the Notice on Strengthening the Management of We Media, which has set a legal "red line" for We Media practitioners, and has also made the operation of We Media have laws and regulations to follow.

It is believed that with the continuous improvement of the system, the legal "We Media" practitioners will have a better future, and the Internet space will also be more clear.