{"id":768,"date":"2023-10-24T03:58:56","date_gmt":"2023-10-23T19:58:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/2023\/10\/24\/online-chat-groups-must-self-regulate-under-new-rules\/"},"modified":"2024-05-25T18:51:32","modified_gmt":"2024-05-25T10:51:32","slug":"online-chat-groups-must-self-regulate-under-new-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/online-chat-groups-must-self-regulate-under-new-rules\/","title":{"rendered":"Online Chat Groups Must Self-Regulate Under New Rules"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote><p>A cyber law professor defended China&#8217;s regulations on social media chat groups, as the new management measures stirred widespread and fierce debate among Net users.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>A cyber law professor <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/jobs?nationId=36\">defended China&#8217;s<\/a> regulations on social media chat groups, as the new management measures stirred widespread and fierce debate among Net users.<\/p>\n<h5><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/media.hiredchina.com\/FjXM0NeoYoW7NTA1huf3ZL75ZQcX?imageView2\/0\/format\/webp\/q\/75\" alt=\"Wired UK.jpg\" width=\"589\" height=\"392.6666666666667\" title=\"\"><\/h5>\n<p>Photo: Internet<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_73 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/online-chat-groups-must-self-regulate-under-new-rules\/#Owners_of_chat_groups_responsible_for_wrong_content\" title=\"Owners of chat groups responsible for wrong content\">Owners of chat groups responsible for wrong content<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-5' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-5'><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-5' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-5'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/online-chat-groups-must-self-regulate-under-new-rules\/#Photo_Internet\" title=\"Photo: Internet\">Photo: Internet<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-5'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/online-chat-groups-must-self-regulate-under-new-rules\/#Photo_Internet-2\" title=\"Photo: Internet\">Photo: Internet<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-5'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/online-chat-groups-must-self-regulate-under-new-rules\/#Photo_City_of_Lacombe\" title=\"Photo: City of Lacombe\">Photo: City of Lacombe<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/online-chat-groups-must-self-regulate-under-new-rules\/#Taking_responsibility\" title=\"Taking responsibility\">Taking responsibility<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-5' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-5'><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-5' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-5'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/online-chat-groups-must-self-regulate-under-new-rules\/#Photo_Internet-3\" title=\"Photo: Internet\">Photo: Internet<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-5'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/online-chat-groups-must-self-regulate-under-new-rules\/#Photo_Business_Standard\" title=\"Photo: Business Standard\">Photo: Business Standard<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Owners_of_chat_groups_responsible_for_wrong_content\"><\/span><span style=\"color: #e33737;\"><strong>Owners of chat groups responsible for wrong content<\/strong><\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) released a set of regulations on the management of online chat groups on September 7, saying that people who establish such chat groups are responsible for the administration of the group.<\/p>\n<p>The group creators must regulate the behavior of members as well as their posts in accordance with the law, user agreements and platform conventions.\u00a0 &#8220;Whoever creates the group should be responsible, and whoever administers the group should be responsible,&#8221; the regulation states.<\/p>\n<p>The new regulations will take effect on October 8. The new rules sparked wide discussions in China, especially among users of instant messenger app Tencent WeChat and the Twitter-like Sino Weibo.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/media.hiredchina.com\/FlE3Cdn6KXSq9qu2RNlvt4hXIXq4?imageView2\/0\/format\/webp\/q\/75\" alt=\"attractchina1.jpg\" width=\"589\" height=\"440.03779069767444\" title=\"\"><\/p>\n<h5><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Photo_Internet\"><\/span>Photo: Internet<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h5>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Wang Sixin, a cyber law professor at the Communication University of China, wrote an article to explain the new regulations, which went viral on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>Wang agrees that creators of chat groups should monitor remarks posted in the groups, but denies that the rules infringe on people&#8217;s freedom of speech. &#8220;The regulations are aimed at maintaining order in online groups, and it is <a href=\"https:\/\/dictionary.cambridge.org\/dictionary\/english\/completely\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">completely<\/a> unrelated to restricting online speech,&#8221; Wang told the Global Times.<\/p>\n<p>Group administrators&#8217; responsibilities mean that they cannot use the group to commit crime, and they should follow up their members&#8217; posts, as the groups are created to satisfy the needs of the creators, according to Wang.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/media.hiredchina.com\/Fp_tJczV364fLRevWidLu-w2Rg4d?imageView2\/0\/format\/webp\/q\/75\" alt=\"Free Speech 3.jpg\" width=\"698\" height=\"400\" title=\"\"><\/p>\n<h5><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Photo_Internet-2\"><\/span>Photo: Internet<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h5>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s like opening a restaurant &#8211; the owner should be responsible for its food,&#8221; Wang told the Global Times.<\/p>\n<p>But in most cases group creators will be exempt from responsibility if they make reports to the service provider or punish the relevant members according to group rules, he noted.<\/p>\n<p>Wang believes that the freedom and privacy of communication refers to exchanging information between two individuals, and that online groups can be used to organize activities.\u00a0 Online groups could be exploited by the creator to conduct offline activities and even commit crimes, he said.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/media.hiredchina.com\/FtSwRCL2h9nKDreUHs18mxK2eCcd?imageView2\/0\/format\/webp\/q\/75\" alt=\"City of Lacombe.jpg\" width=\"849\" height=\"565\" title=\"\"><\/p>\n<h5><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Photo_City_of_Lacombe\"><\/span>Photo: City of Lacombe<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h5>\n<hr \/>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Taking_responsibility\"><\/span><strong><span style=\"color: #e33737;\">Taking responsibility<\/span><\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/media.hiredchina.com\/FvqGh4xS0WulIbTNzBxgTPHiNaK6?imageView2\/0\/format\/webp\/q\/75\" alt=\"41913883-Punishment-word-cloud-concept-Stock-Photo.jpg\" width=\"1300\" height=\"866\" title=\"\"><\/p>\n<h5><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Photo_Internet-3\"><\/span>Photo: Internet<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h5>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&#8220;However, the punishment for violations should only be limited to suspending the online groups rather than people being deprived of personal freedom,&#8221; Wang said.\u00a0\u00a0 In the past weeks, <a target=\"_blank\" class=\"inside_link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/tag\/news\/\" title=\"View all posts in news\">news<\/a> reports about police detaining creators of online groups for making improper remarks have been widely carried in the media.<\/p>\n<p>In one of the news reports, a man in East China&#8217;s Anhui Province was given a five-day detention for making abusive comments about police in a WeChat group he created.\u00a0 Some creators have started to impose stricter rules on their groups before the new regulations take effect, and others have deactivated their groups.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/media.hiredchina.com\/Fm7ZCQEyLqS_ytrvxuaSWAxOryOX?imageView2\/0\/format\/webp\/q\/75\" alt=\"Business Standard.jpg\" width=\"620\" height=\"464\" title=\"\"><\/p>\n<h5><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Photo_Business_Standard\"><\/span>Photo: Business Standard<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h5>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Some group administrators announced in their chat group the importance of abiding by the law.<\/p>\n<p>He Yafu, a well-known demographer and administrator of a demography-themed WeChat group with over 300 members, wrote and posted a group chat rule Tuesday, saying that members cannot discuss topics unrelated to family planning policies, post advertisements or illegal information.<\/p>\n<p>Those in violation will be warned or removed from the group, he said.\u00a0 Making rules on posts in groups is useful as many members post about unrelated topics and even insult others, He said.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/media.hiredchina.com\/FlXXlKXBxtykYAuKbjvAxKMwIbVH?imageView2\/0\/format\/webp\/q\/75\" alt=\"GIC.jpg\" width=\"500\" height=\"543.2937181663837\" title=\"\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A cyber law professor defended China&#8217;s regulations on social media chat groups, as the new management measures stirred widespread and fierce debate among Net users. A cyber law professor defended &#8230;","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9112,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[60,306,29,27,515],"class_list":["post-768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pro-tips","tag-china","tag-hiredchina","tag-jobs","tag-news","tag-online-chat-groups-must-self-regulate-under-new-rules"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=768"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/768\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9113,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/768\/revisions\/9113"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}