China: Supreme Internet regulator declares war on cyberbullying

China: Supreme Internet regulator declares war on cyberbullying

Beijing, March 16, 2023

After numerous political officials and advisers called on national legislators to further clean up the online environment at the recently concluded two sessions – the first session of the 14th National People’s Congress and the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference proposals to establish a special law to combat cyberbullying. It is a „global problem“, but the Chinese have been confronted with it „frequently in recent years“.

Case officer Li Changxi of the Cyberspace Administration of China, the country’s top internet regulator, responded positively. While guidance on how to deal with cyberbullying can be found in some existing laws and judicial interpretations such as the Civil Code, the Criminal Code and the Youth Protection Act, „they are not targeted and effective enough to solve the current problem,“ Li Mit said In other words, „There is still a gap between the effectiveness of the legal system and people’s expectations,“ he said.

That is why his administration will make more effort to regulate from the perspective of those affected by cyberbullying. They will also work together with other authorities and complete the relevant laws – he promised.

Li stressed that the government has made countering bullying in cyberspace a priority. He gave the following figures: so far, 28.75 million pieces of information related to cyberbullying have been removed, with 22,000 online account holders being penalized.

„We have also led several major online platforms to recently issue brochures to teach internet users how to protect themselves and their personal information and how to report cyberbullying,“ he said.

Websites and Internet platforms have been instructed to take responsibility for preventing online bullying, he said, adding, „Cyberspace departments will also regularly disclose influential anti-cyberbullying cases to strongly protect the legitimate rights of Internet users.“