Clear Streams in Pujiang | E-cigarettes Disguised as “Milk Tea Cups” and “Cola Cans”: How to Keep Minors Away from Harm
During the trial of a fraud case, a minor involved in the case casually took out a “milk tea cup” e-cigarette and started smoking. Upon inquiry by the presiding prosecutor, it was learned that the minor had seen advertisements and recommendations for e-cigarette products on a well-known social network platform and then purchased them by adding the seller’s WeChat.
Similarly, during the “Clear and Bright Pujiang – 2023 Summer Minor’s Online Environment Rectification” special action, relevant departments in Huangpu District, Shanghai, found that several minors had purchased tattoo services at relevant stores after viewing tattoo promotion content on a well-known social network platform.
In the face of an increasingly complex online environment, how can we help minors improve their discernment abilities and stay away from bad temptations? How can minor protection be effectively implemented?
Recently, the Huangpu District Cyberspace Administration Office introduced to The Paper (www.thepaper.cn) that in order to ensure the online environment safety for minors, in recent years, the district has improved the working mechanism for collaborative online governance, strengthened organizational leadership, enhanced responsibility implementation, adhered to the principles of “multiple governance, multi-dimensional levels, and multi-intelligence integration”, explored and practiced collaborative online governance, and strived to create a clear online space and a positive online public opinion atmosphere.
Reporters also learned from the Shanghai Cyberspace Administration Office that Huangpu District’s practice of “basing itself on the ‘three multiples’, deepening collaboration, and creating a clear online space” has been selected as an excellent and innovative case for online ecological governance in “Clear and Bright Pujiang – 2024”.
Urging Social Platforms to Rectify Illegal E-Cigarette Propaganda
Recently, a large number of cute and flavorful e-cigarette products, represented by “milk tea cups” and “cola cans”, have emerged on the market, attracting many minors. Although the Measures for the Administration of E-Cigarettes clearly prohibit the sale of e-cigarette products to minors, some illegal vendors still sell e-cigarettes to minors through concealed channels such as online attraction.
In March 2024, a prosecutor from the Huangpu District People’s Procuratorate in Shanghai noticed that Chen, a minor involved in a fraud case, had the habit of carrying and smoking “milk tea cup” e-cigarettes. Upon inquiry, Chen revealed that he had purchased the e-cigarettes privately through WeChat after seeing advertisements and recommendations on a social network platform.
The presiding prosecutor’s investigation found that there was a significant amount of e-cigarette promotional content on the social platform mentioned by Chen, including misleading language for minors such as “fruit cups”, “electronic coffee”, “atomized energy sticks”, “healthy”, and “fashionable”, without any warning labels stating “It is strictly prohibited to sell cigarettes and e-cigarettes to minors”. Additionally, the platform contained interactive information such as “mouth-held cigarettes” sharing and comments, indicating the possibility of private domain attraction for sales, which may harm the public interests of minors.
On April 22, 2024, the prosecutor visited the social network company for consultation, urging the platform to add labels stating “It is strictly prohibited to sell cigarettes and e-cigarettes to minors”, use big data screening to isolate tobacco (e-cigarette) related content unsuitable for minors, regularly conduct self-checks to clean up e-cigarette attraction information, promptly rectify违规 content or comments, strengthen legal publicity, and create a green, healthy, and safe online environment.
On April 26, the company provided feedback to the procuratorate on the rectification situation, stating that it had added warning labels to search content related to “tobacco” and “e-cigarettes” at the top of the platform page. It also conducted self-checks to clean up attraction information and imposed corresponding penalties through means such as product removal, comment suppression, and permanent account bans. All issues related to tobacco (e-cigarettes) have been rectified, ensuring the safety of the online environment.
To protect minors from the harm of e-cigarettes, the Huangpu District Procuratorate has also joined forces with the Tobacco Bureau and the Cyberspace Administration Office to strengthen online monitoring, promptly investigate clues of illegal online e-cigarette promotion and sales, and eliminate the hidden dangers of minors purchasing e-cigarettes online.
Labeling Content That Affects Minors, Such as “Tattoos”
The online environment is complex, and the regulation and labeling of information that may affect the physical and mental health of minors is not a new or final step, as seen in the aforementioned e-cigarette regulation case.
In July 2023, the Shanghai Cyberspace Administration Office, the Municipal Procuratorate, and the Municipal Cultural Tourism Bureau’s Law Enforcement Team jointly launched a two-month special action called “Clear and Bright Pujiang – 2023 Summer Minor’s Online Environment Rectification”. During the special action in Huangpu District, it was found that although a certain online social platform identified tattoo promotion content as information that may affect the physical and mental health of minors, it did not take effective measures to provide warnings or filter such content. As a result, several minors viewed the content and subsequently purchased tattoo services at relevant stores.
In response, the Huangpu District Cyberspace Administration Office, the District Procuratorate, and other departments jointly met with the local platform to urge it to strengthen supervision, establish a team for handling minor-related information, and open a dedicated section for announcements on minor-related information governance. Through the dual ecological guidance approach of “AI recognition + manual verification”, information that may affect the physical and mental health of minors is automatically labeled as “Not for Minors”. The Huangpu District Cyberspace Administration Office also enhances teenagers’ awareness of online security through activities such as Cybersecurity Week, Digital Literacy Enhancement Month, and cybersecurity lectures in summer care programs.
To further create an online environment conducive to the physical and mental health of minors, on November 19, 2024, the Huangpu District Procuratorate, Huangpu Public Security Bureau, and Huangpu District Cyberspace Administration Office established the “e-space” Joint Studio for Minor Online Protection and signed the Implementation Measures for the “e-space” Joint Studio for Minor Online Protection in Huangpu District.
The implementation measures clarify that the studio will focus on information on online platforms that may affect the physical and mental health of minors and carry out collaborative governance in aspects such as content security, personal safety, information security, consumer safety, addiction prevention, and literacy promotion.
The implementation measures also stipulate that all member units should strengthen information sharing and adopt methods such as holding joint meetings, providing regular written reports, and conducting joint inspections to exchange the latest developments in the regional online space in real-time. The mechanisms for the connection between administrative and criminal proceedings, clue transfer, legal protection, comprehensive protection, and guardianship intervention related to minors’ online cases should be strengthened to form a collaborative effort. At the same time, a meeting system will be established, allowing members of the studio to jointly meet with involved companies if it is found during work that internet companies have not promptly addressed issues or there is information detrimental to the physical and mental health of minors. In addition, member units will explore the establishment of an online ecological legal education lecture team, organize exchange lectures and other activities, promote the sharing of high-quality publicity resources, and continuously enrich the forms of legal publicity and enhance the intensity of legal education.
Moreover, improving the comprehensive governance ability of minors’ online issues requires collaborative efforts from multiple entities, including government management, corporate responsibility, social supervision, and judicial participation. Six functional departments in Huangpu District, including the District Procuratorate, Cyberspace Administration Office, Public Security Bureau, Education Bureau, Women’s Federation, and various sub-districts, have joined forces with four social forces, including representatives of the people’s congress, enterprises, news media, and experts and scholars, to form the “Net Cleaning and Minor Protection” alliance for minor online protection in Huangpu District. In addition, “Minor Online Protection Stations” are set up in sub-districts, schools, and enterprises to provide one-stop services such as online security education, psychological counseling, clue reporting, and emergency assistance.
Basing Itself on “Multiple Governance, Multi-Dimensional Levels, and Multi-Intelligence Integration”
Building a barrier for minor online protection is just a glimpse of Huangpu District’s efforts to create a clear online space by basing itself on “multiple governance, multi-dimensional levels, and multi-intelligence integration”.
In recent years, Huangpu District has adhered to the principle of “multiple governance” and formulated the Working Mechanism for Strengthening Regional Online Collaborative Governance in Huangpu District. Multiple key online-related management departments, including the District Cyberspace Administration Office, Public Security Bureau, Procuratorate, Market Supervision Bureau, and Cultural Tourism Bureau, have formed a joint force for governing the internet according to law, promoting the extension of online-related management responsibilities from offline to online. Working mechanisms such as regular work consultations, major public opinion handling, online law enforcement coordination, minor online protection, and online security work coordination have been established.
Under the guidance of the Shanghai Cyberspace Administration Office, Huangpu District has gradually formed a multi-dimensional online collaborative governance work mode featuring “government supervision, industry self-discipline, and social supervision” through practice. For situations where companies within the district have cybersecurity vulnerabilities, joint efforts with the public security department are made to conduct on-site evidence collection and meetings to urge companies to implement rectifications. The
