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DecGeneral Secretary Xi Jinping stated in the Report to the 19th National Congress of the CPC that efforts should be made to “strengthen Internet contents construction, establish a comprehensive network governance and create a clean cyberspace”. The establishment of a comprehensive network governance system represents a key arrangement for correctly understanding and grasping rules and characteristics of information-based social development, following the Internet development trend and boosting modernization of national governance system and capability; a forceful measure to construct a clean cyberspace, form a good atmosphere of public opinions on the Internet and build a clean and healthy cyber ecology; and an effective path to perfect comprehensive control of network risks, maintain public security and ensure social harmony and stability.
Comprehensive network governance is a complex project, which requires integration and coordination in various dimensions such as system, organization, technology, resources and conceptual pattern, and effective regulation of the Internet based on the consideration of the Internet as a technology product and social tool, with a view to maximizing its positive role. In this regard, we discuss the importance of establishing a comprehensive network governance system to integrated social governance in the following aspects and issues we need to face in the process.
The first is basic attributes and governing subjects of network society. Before establishing a comprehensive network governance system, we need first to have a good understanding of the attributes of network society. Different understandings have different boundaries and arrive at different governance logics. If network society is considered merely as a virtual space based on various new technologies, it should be governed more through technical means; while if it is considered as the extension of a real society in cyberspace or a real society embedded with network technology, then such society should be governed at both real and virtual levels in a complicated manner. From the perspective of innovation in social governance, the Internet is more than a technology and network society is anything but a virtual space, so strengthening network governance has become an important part of social governance.
Definitely, a key problem underlying the establishment of a comprehensive network governance system is functional positioning for different governance subjects. Therefore, controversies over whether the government should play a leading role have been there for long. Those supporting the government to play a leading role believe that like a real society, network society also concerns immediate interests of the general public and public interests can hardly be guaranteed through self-governance of business organizations and non-governmental organizations or individuals’ self-discipline alone; opponents believe that development and evolution of network society as well as production and application of new technologies follow their respective operating rules and models, in which government intervention and interference will compromise the ability of technological innovation and operating efficiency. However, people have gradually realized that network society resulting from technological revolution cannot be regulated merely through technologies and negative externalities of cyberspace should still be controlled and guided by the “visible hand” if they cannot be overcome on their own. It should be understood that problems in network society are often intertwined with those in a real society, which can hardly be separated thoroughly, resulting in that network governance means social governance and integrated social governance contains network governance. Only the government can combine legal, administrative and technological means in active intervention and participation, and play a role that cannot be substituted by any other subjects.
The second is media demassification and integration of opinion fields. With the rapid development of information technology and the Internet, information dissemination channels tend to be “de-massed” and “differentiated”. Meanwhile, media have been gradually differentiating into two categories, namely “traditional media” represented by television, broadcast, newspapers and magazines, and “emerging media” represented by portals, micro blogs, WeChat and clients. Statistics of China Internet Network Information Centre show that there were 751 million netizens in China as of June 2017, among which 724 million used cell phones to access the Internet. Media themselves are information; different media characteristics and modes of dissemination lead to different ways in which the public acquire information, while the public space consisting of different sources of information and modes of dissemination has different impacts on attitudes, ideas and ways of act of the audience.
On April 19, 2016, Xi indicated in a speech at a Symposium on Cyber Security and IT Application that “the Internet is a platform of social information, where hundreds of millions of netizens acquire and exchange information, exerting an important influence on how they seek knowledge, way of thinking and values, especially their views of the country, society, work and life”. With the fast growth of new media, network media dominated by the “public opinion field” are more likely to become a platform where the public express their opinions and interact, and a carrier where public events and hot issues boil. In contrast, traditional media lag behind in such aspects as agenda setting, public opinion disposal and dissemination influence. Hence, correctly grasping and judging the trend of media differentiation, effectively bridging the gap between different opinion fields and integrating the two opinion fields will become important issues to be faced to improve the capability of integrated social governance.
The third is the construction of public cyberspace and value consensus. The Report to the 19th National Congress of the CPC proposes to “place high importance on communication means construction and innovation, so as to improve the communication, guidance, influence and credibility of news media”. In the era when “everyone has a microphone (freedom of expression)”, online public opinions come from individual opinions, but are not a simple summary of the same. Instead, they are “the general mood” developed from various mechanisms and are unanticipated and sudden. Once the combined force of online public opinions contradicts social facts, rational communication and discussion may lose the viable foundation. It is therefore required to dialectically view the relationship between social opinions and online public opinions, strengthen the guidance of mainstream public opinions and create a “clean and ecological” cyberspace. Firstly, the role of public opinions in guiding social emergencies should be emphasized. Emergencies are sudden and often throw competent authorities into passivity. Precisely because of such suddenness, failure to guide public opinions and take appropriate countermeasures in time will easily influence public access to correct information and proper judgment and then reduce public trust in the government. Secondly, on the precondition of envisaging expression of people’s reasonable opinions and appeals, deep participation by mainstream media and replacement of blocking with dredging should be encouraged, so as to bring into full play the role of mainstream media as a “stabilizer” and “deflector” in network society governance. Netizens’ opinions represent public appeals in some way and reflect will of the people to some extent. Mainstream media should actively participate in interactions with the public through network technology, resolve negative aspects of network society via orderly dredging and reasonable intervention, so that online interactions can become “safe valves” exporting negative emotions about realistic society. Thirdly, the core value system should be perfected and social consensus should be reached. The cyberspace sees all kinds of opinions and comments: rational opinions and offensive comments; facts and rumors; remarks showing positive energy and those containing hatred and rage. Therefore, even about a simple social event, there will be no foundation for rational communication among various opinions due to absence of social consensus and shared value criteria. As a result, it is fundamentally required to establish and cultivate core values and build a value system accepted and observed by most people.
The four is cyber crimes and comprehensive control of public security. Cyber crimes have become a main type of crimes. Statistics show that global attacks of ransomware virus increased by three folds in 2016 to the extent that averagely every 40 seconds an enterprise was infected and averagely every 10 seconds an individual user was attacked. In China, cyber crimes have accounted for nearly one third of the total, among which the number of online telecom financial fraud cases rose from 100,000 in 2010 to 590,000 in 2015, representing an average annual increase of 32.5%. Cyber crimes are disguised, cross-regional, non-contact and instant, and are thus more difficult to control than traditional ones. In the new era, we should think and act out of the box, employ technologies, stay more vigilant and establish a firm comprehensive defense system for cyber security. As Xi has underlined, “cyber security is for the people and by the people, and maintaining cyber security is a common responsibility of society at large, requiring the government, enterprises, social organizations and netizens to participate and build a line of defense of cyber security”. Competent authorities should actively get adapted to the Internet development trend, make full use of artificial intelligence, big data and other technologies to monitor network activities, identify problems and plug up loopholes, and try to achieve early prevention and severe crackdown. Effective involvement, synergetic cooperation and co-governance by different authorities and subjects are also required. The establishment of a comprehensive network governance system will significantly supplement the perfection of traditional crime prevention and control system, practically strengthen personal and property security of the public and effectively improve the capability of integrated social governance.
(The article is a phased output of “Social Conflicts Governance and Political Order Construction in Social Transformation in Contemporary China” (15JJD84006), a major project of MOE Key Research Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences)
(Author Affiliation: National Academy of Development and Strategy, RUC; School of Sociology and Population Studies, RUC)
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