Study On China’s Internet Content Regulation Mechanism

This study focuses on the hot spot topic of China’s Internet content regulation. It attempts to figure out the process, stakeholders, approaches, and mechanism of China’s Internet content regulation and give policy advice to improve regulatory mechanism based on historical review and present evaluation.The study adopts a modified policy model of Multiple Streams Policy Framework suggested by Kingdon in1990s. From a perspective of adaption and evolution, this study treats the evolutionary paths of the functions, agencies, and strategies of China’s Internet content regulation as the three streams in the typical Kingdon model, and present Internet environment as the policy window. In this way, the key points of mechanism reformation and policy suggestions have been proposed.Using one hundred and ninety-five online content regulation related policies issued by the Chinese government from1994to2011as the data source, the study constitutes a three dimensional policy evolution model to reveal the structure and evolution of the Internet content regulation regime based on text mining and content analysis on policy documents. Then, the structure and cooperation of regulation agencies has been portrayed by the methodology and tools of social network analysis, and a three hierarchical structure of regulatory approaches has been given to describe the historical change of the Internet regulation approaches. Based on these work, the mechanism model of China’s Internet content regulation has been drew. Further,10participants who are involved in Internet content regulation are interviewed openly to give their opinions on the features and difficulties of the status quo of online content regulation and their evaluation and advice on the adaptability of present mechanism. Finally, referring to the Complex Adaptive System theory, this study uncovers the mechanism of emergence and self-organizing in the system, and raises the Online Content Complex Adaptive Regulation Mechanism.This study has found that, the Internet content regulation is not an isolated policy set but a function which relates closely to many other aspects of the Internet regulation strategy. The Internet content regulation distributes in different policies in three scale of extent-direct, indirect, and peripheral control, and can be classified into fourteen subject areas. The regulatory function in different areas links to and supports each other. There exists a circulation of the force of regulation between direct and indirect, coercive and soft content control.By drawing the policy issue organizations, this study finds out fifty-eight different agencies taking charge of the Internet content regulation. These agencies take part in the online content regulation in different areas and extent. The Ministry of Information Industry (Ministry of Industry and Information Technology), the Ministry of Public Security, and the Ministry of Culture are the core agencies of online content regulation. From2004to2007, the scale of the cooperation between agencies had reached the summit. The cooperation is not happened spontaneously by different agencies in their functional areas, but contributed by a large number of agencies under unified arrangement in certain areas of Internet content regulation.The micro approaches adopted in online content regulation can be classified in to seven meso strategies and five macro management types. By content analysis and statistics, the study finds that in the early stage of China’s Internet era the content regulation relied much on institutional regulation which abdicated its position to special regulation campaign gradually along with the development of Internet. This situation shows that the old regulation institution does not fit to the new Internet environment, and the regulation agencies have to rely on executive system and approaches to regulate new online information services. The self-discipline by Internet Corporation is another typical regulation strategy with Chinese characteristics.The Internet content regulation evolution is promoted by the conflict between the policy goals of economic development and political stability. By the circulation of policy tool and policy learning, the regulatory subject and object adapt to and evolve with each other, which constitute a co-evolving complex adaptive system.On the basement of reviewing complexity science and complex adaptive system, this study finds the online information content environment is a CAS. Thus an online content complex adaptive regulation mechanism has been raised. In such thought, the focus in traditional regulation model has been shifted from governance to agent stimulation, information flow protection, and high quality information production. Government’s role has transformed from the regulator of online information to one type of adaptive agents acting in the online information content complex system. The content regulation agents should pay more attention to the incentive of content production agents and the fluency of information flow. The Internet users and corporations should take more responsibilities of content management. Multiple types of user organizations are the bonds which articulate user aggregation, value negotiation, and information flow in the content complex system. In this way, the new mechanism can promote the self-organization process in the system and help the online content evolve orderly and sustainably.