Interpreting the “Ten Articles of WeChat”, what changes have they brought?

At present, instant messaging tools represented by WeChat have accumulated more than 1 billion users. Faced with such a large user base of this new mobile Internet service, the release of the "Ten Measures of the State Internet Information Office" was not unexpected, but happened at an appropriate time.

Today, the State Internet Information Office issued the "Interim Provisions on the Development and Management of Public Information Services of Instant Messaging Tools", which mainly regulates instant messaging platforms and user behaviors in terms of industry qualifications, privacy protection, real-name registration, filing review, content restrictions, etc., and clarifies the penalties for violations.

At present, instant messaging tools, mainly represented by WeChat, have accumulated more than 1 billion users, replacing SMS to a certain extent. Faced with such a large user base and such a wide range of applications for this new mobile Internet service, the industry has always discussed the regulatory standards. The release of the "Ten Measures of the State Internet Information Office" was not unexpected, but just happened at the right time.

The current focus of the industry is on what impact the "Ten Measures of the State Internet Information Office" will have on the domestic instant messaging market. Especially for WeChat, which is the leader, what are the pros and cons of the new regulations?

The "Ten Articles of the State Internet Information Office" are quite long, so I would like to summarize them into the following three main points:

1. Regulate the service providers of instant messaging tools such as WeChat, requiring them to obtain relevant qualifications, fulfill security management responsibilities, improve various systems, assign corresponding personnel, protect user privacy, accept social supervision, and handle reporting information in a timely manner.

Second, the opening of public accounts by public information service providers of instant messaging tools such as WeChat public accounts must be reviewed by the instant messaging tool service provider, and the instant messaging tool service provider must file a classified record with the Internet information content management department. At the same time, stricter restrictions have been taken on the publication of current affairs articles, requiring public account managers to have relevant qualifications.

3. For users of instant messaging tools such as WeChat, they must sign an agreement when registering an account, promising to abide by laws and regulations, and must provide their real names, which is the so-called "real-name system."

How to interpret the attitude of the State Internet Information Office towards instant messaging tools? After careful analysis, the author has the following views:

1. The “Ten Measures of the State Council Information Office” are not meant to suppress

From the overall tone, the National Internet Information Office does not intend to suppress or curb the development of instant messaging tools. On the contrary, Article 7 also proposes "encouraging party and government agencies, enterprises, institutions and people's organizations at all levels to open public accounts to serve economic and social development and meet public needs." In other words, instant messaging tools are characterized as new tools worthy of encouragement, and the introduction of regulations does not mean suppression.

2. The “Ten Measures of the State Council Information Office” are normal and normative actions

In China, everyone should be familiar with the "real-name system". Anyone who has built a website should feel very familiar with the "registration". Looking at the ten regulations, there is actually not much new. Most of them are regulatory policies that have been adopted since the traditional PC Internet era, such as QQ, Weibo, and ordinary websites.

Therefore, the “Ten Articles of the State Internet Information Office” are not driven by special events. They are regulatory policies issued at special times. They are simply the State Internet Information Office fulfilling its responsibilities as a regulatory department. You have to produce something. Otherwise, what if your leaders think you have not done your job?

Instant messaging tools have developed rapidly in recent years, especially WeChat, which has more than 400 million active users. These platform tools have a huge influence, and the speed of information dissemination is very fast. It is impossible for regulatory authorities not to pay attention to such an influential information channel. This is not a question of freedom of the press, but a dereliction of duty for them.

So taking WeChat as an example, what impact do the “Ten Measures of the State Internet Information Office” have on ordinary users, public accounts, and the WeChat platform itself?

Almost no impact on ordinary users

At most, you need to verify your real identity when registering and sign an online agreement (it is estimated that users who have already registered will also need to add this procedure), which is a little troublesome, but other than that, there is almost no impact. You can chat with friends on WeChat as you like, and you will hardly feel the existence of the "Ten Measures of the State Administration of Information Technology".

Of course, it is impossible to have no impact at all. In the past, many political, unofficial history, and exposing secrets articles were widely circulated on the WeChat platform, and many people enjoyed reading them. Sorry, I guess there will be fewer and fewer political and current affairs articles on WeChat in the future. Only qualified "national" public accounts can publish current affairs content, but you may not like what they publish.

In terms of content diversification, there will definitely be significant changes before and after regulation, which will have a greater impact on ordinary users.

There are more restrictions on public accounts, and the risks are increasing

First of all, it is much more troublesome to open a public account. In the past, the application for opening a public account only needed to be reviewed and approved by Tencent, and it could be done within three working days. But it will be different in the future. After Tencent's review and approval, it is necessary to report to the Internet information content management department for classification and filing. At present, the specific filing procedure has not been seen, and it is not known whether filing is a pre-procedure or a post-procedure for opening a public account. However, based on experience, it is very likely to be a post-procedure, that is, the application for opening a public account must wait for the local competent department to review and approve it before it can be officially approved.

The biggest impact of this is that the time is greatly extended. I believe that those who have registered a website have experienced this process. Everything is ready except for the east wind. That is, there is no news after waiting for one or two months for the website registration, making the time for project implementation unpredictable.

I don’t know if the registration of WeChat public accounts will eventually become like this, but there is a possibility.

In addition, public accounts without approval are not allowed to publish or reprint current affairs news, which is a significant restriction for public accounts. Current affairs are a hot topic that most people are concerned about. In fact, many public accounts have previously increased their exposure and attracted user attention by skirting around current affairs or focusing on current affairs content. Most of these are "unlicensed operations" and do not have relevant qualifications.

After the release of the "Ten Measures of the State Internet Information Office", the most difficult thing should be this type of public accounts. They must either completely transform or be killed. Other public accounts that do not focus on current affairs should also be careful. They must be cautious when publishing content. What kind of articles can be classified as "current affairs news"? To be honest, the definition criteria are very vague. I have not seen the specific evaluation criteria. Everything is controlled by Tencent and the regulatory authorities. Under such unclear regulations, it is estimated that everyone will be honest for a while.

Moreover, the current "Ten Articles of the State Internet Information Office" are only temporary regulations. It is not ruled out that more specific and extensive behavioral constraints will be introduced in the future. Everyone can only "dance with shackles" and will definitely not be as free as before.

But in the short term, the impact on most public accounts is actually not that big. Relevant data shows that the proportion of public accounts involved in "current affairs" is less than 1%, so most people can breathe a sigh of relief.

Impact on the WeChat platform itself

After the release of the "Ten Measures of the State Internet Information Office", Tencent Holdings closed down 3.46%, showing investors' concerns. So, what is the impact of this new regulation on WeChat? The author believes that there are both advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages:

1. Clarify the attitude of regulatory authorities

As long as the attitude of the regulators is not clear, we can't rest easy on WeChat. It's not uncommon for Skype to be shut down after its wild growth. The release of the "Ten Measures of the State Internet Information Office" not only regulates but also shows that the regulators still view instant messaging tools with an encouraging and tolerant attitude, which reduces worries.

2. It is conducive to purifying the WeChat ecological environment

After a period of rapid growth, WeChat has rapidly grown into a comprehensive platform, but at the same time, it has also begun to breed various less standardized and even illegal behaviors. On WeChat, the excessive commercialization of the Moments is no longer a new topic, and various WeChat fraud incidents can often be seen on the Internet. There are even many companies that use WeChat to conduct commercial activities suspected of pyramid schemes.

Tencent has taken various measures to combat such behavior, but the overall WeChat ecosystem is indeed showing a deteriorating trend. The "real-name system" and "registration system" have a strong deterrent effect on those who use WeChat to commit crimes, and should play a relatively large role in purifying the WeChat ecosystem.

Disadvantages:

1. Not conducive to the liberalization and diversification of platforms

Regulation is the biggest poison to free development. At present, the "Ten Rules of the State Internet Information Office" do not show more specific constraints on the behavior of instant messaging tools, but now that the "Ten Rules" have been issued, it is certainly possible that the "Twenty Rules" and "Thirty Rules" will be issued in the future. As long as there is a beginning, the systems and constraints will always tend to become more and more numerous, more specific, and more strict.

For a platform, a relaxed and free environment is more likely to generate innovative ideas and practices. When the regulatory authorities impose more and more regulations, everyone is dancing with shackles on their feet, which will to some extent harm this spontaneous growth force.

2. It is not conducive to developing the platform with business rules and business efficiency

When WeChat has an additional regulation and a management department, it becomes very difficult to develop the platform simply by using business rules and business efficiency. For example, WeChat is constantly speeding up the approval of public accounts. Now there is an additional filing procedure. Even if your WeChat official review speed is faster, it can't stop others from filing and reviewing slowly, right? Efficiency is no longer something that WeChat can decide alone.

For example, the various business strategies and practices of WeChat may have been decided by Ma Huateng or even Zhang Xiaolong in the past. But in the future, will it require a government official to give a nod? Anyway, if you are accused of "controlling public opinion content", you really have no way to deal with it.

Based on the above interpretation, the impact of the "Ten Measures of the State Internet Information Office" on WeChat is comprehensive, with both good and bad sides. The regulations are just a set of provisions, and the most important thing is how the regulatory authorities implement them. I will keep an eye on how this matter will continue to develop.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.