legal daily: stop chasing stars without boundaries and bottom lines!
2024-09-26
한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina
recently, two-time olympic gold medalist quan hongchan returned to her hometown of maihe village, mazhang town, zhanjiang, guangdong, and was disturbed by various onlookers: the entrance to the village was full of parked vehicles, and the front of quan hongchan's house became a "snack street"; people were watching and live-streaming at the door of her house day and night, and many netizens continued to post videos of quan hongchan's home online; someone used a drone to take quan hongchan's activities in the yard. not only that, there is also a lot of information about "maihe village one-day tour" tour groups on the internet. a video shows that on september 13, a tour guide raised a flag and took tourists on a tour of the village street. neighbors in the same village are bothered by it.
this is the epitome of the unbridled pursuit of sports stars. for some time, the "fan circle culture" in the sports world has been getting more and more intense, with a small number of fans taking extreme measures to chase stars. they either aim their cameras at athletes 24/7 to gain popularity and traffic, and disclose all of their movements to the internet in real time; or they simplify the exchanges and discussions of events into one-sided and opposing "teaming up", belittling their opponents when they win, and taking their anger out on the referees when they lose, and frequently engaging in endless online disputes and abuse.
in this regard, experts interviewed by legal daily believe that it is a good thing to care about athletes, but the behavior must comply with the law and social norms. behind some extreme "attention" behaviors is the violation of personal privacy. the phenomenon of boundless star chasing seriously deviates from the original intention of competitive sports to pursue fairness, purity and passion. the public should use rational star chasing behavior, avoid inappropriate words and deeds, learn from the shining points of athletes, and resolutely prevent the chaos of "fan circles" from spreading to the sports field.
cartoon: li xiaojun
star-chasing chaos
dealing with illegal accounts
at first, quan hongchan warmly welcomed the fans and distributed fruits to them. but the number of people gathered kept increasing and they were unwilling to disperse until the night. in desperation, quan hongchan could only persuade the crowd to keep their voices down and that it was time for everyone to rest. but few people listened to her advice and continued to wait nearby for her to get up, and some even shouted loudly. as there were elderly people at home, the family was disturbed and could not rest. quan hongchan looked a little helpless standing on the second-floor balcony.
in fact, this is not the first time that quan hongchan has been surrounded by fans recently. on the evening of september 1, during the visit of the chinese sports delegation to australia for the paris olympics, quan hongchan went out in casual clothes and was surrounded by fans. the video circulating online showed that a male fan directly opened the door of the women's restroom, chased her in, raised his mobile phone and took a lot of photos. then many fans swarmed in and squeezed into the restroom, and quan hongchan could not get out. the staff shouted: "she was so scared that she cried inside."
many netizens have spoken out about the behavior of extreme fans, "i hope everyone can be rational in chasing sports stars, and such siege behavior should be stopped in any circle", "i hope to give them more space", "such fans are really maddening", "give athletes more private living space", "such fans are terrible, hugs to chanmei".
quan hongchan's experience is not an isolated case. it has happened to many sports stars in recent years.
on august 3, chinese athletes chen meng and sun yingsha successfully met in the women's singles final of the paris olympics. in the end, chen meng defeated sun yingsha 4-2 to win the championship. it is a happy thing that domestic athletes won the first and second place in important events, but there was a discordant scene in the audience of this game: some "fans" held sun yingsha kt boards (propaganda boards), light boards, and hanging flags, and some even booed chen meng and made uncivilized gestures.
olympic champion fan zhendong once posted on his personal social media account that in march this year, his id number was maliciously spread by lawless elements to spread rumors, and someone even found his mobile phone number and began to harass and abuse him. previously, he also issued a statement after the fans’ airport pick-up caused chaos, calling for people not to bring the bad habits of “fan circles” into competitive sports.
on august 7, badminton player wang chang landed in beijing after finishing the paris olympics. enthusiastic fans who came to meet him at the airport ran after him. he responded to the fan group: "i think everyone should be more rational. my luggage was almost squeezed out." coincidentally, gymnast zhang boheng was also surrounded by fans at the airport and could not move.
on september 6, the beijing internet public opinion and reporting center released the beijing internet reporting acceptance situation: during the paris olympics, the center accepted and handled reports on "fan circle" issues in the sports field. the local platform websites cleaned up a total of 301,000 negative comments and handled more than 4,600 illegal accounts.
affecting the order of life
infringement of multiple rights
the "regulations on the management of online live streaming marketing (trial implementation)" clearly stipulates that live streaming marketing personnel are not allowed to engage in online live streaming marketing activities in places that involve national security, public safety, or affect others and the normal production and living order of society.
regarding fans' unscrupulous star-chasing behaviors such as tracking, peeping, and secretly taking photos of sports stars, industry experts believe that this type of traffic-grabbing behavior seriously affects the normal life order of sports stars, their families, and society, and is suspected of violating multiple laws and regulations.
in the view of ma lihong, senior partner of beijing dhh law firm, sports stars, as public figures, have a certain obligation of tolerance, but the rights of stars are not without protection boundaries.
"many onlookers broadcast live outside the homes of sports stars. many people may gain traffic or even economic benefits through these videos. commercializing celebrity portraits without permission is a clear violation of portrait rights. even if there is no commercial purpose, unauthorized public use constitutes an infringement of portrait rights. in addition, no organization or individual may infringe upon the privacy rights of others by means of spying, intrusion, disclosure, or publicity. the private lives of public figures should not be subject to endless monitoring and recording." ma lihong said.
regarding the behaviors of fans in the sports world, such as pulling down and inciting quarrels, and maliciously speculating about referees and coaches, zhou xuliang, director of beijing guanling law firm, believes that these behaviors may at the very least infringe upon the reputation and privacy rights of the relevant personnel. in serious cases, if the circumstances are serious and the adverse impact is caused, they may also constitute multiple criminal charges such as insult, defamation, and infringement of citizens' personal information.
as for the illegal acquisition and sale of celebrity personal information and flight information, ma lihong said that citizen personal information does not require the characteristics of personal privacy. even if the relevant information has been made public and does not fall within the scope of personal privacy, it may still become "citizen personal information." the crime of infringing on citizen personal information stipulated in my country's criminal law includes not only the sale or provision of citizen personal information, but also the illegal acquisition of citizen personal information.
"therefore, the act of purchasing celebrity personal information is actually an act of illegal acquisition and may also constitute the crime of infringing on citizens' personal information and be subject to corresponding criminal penalties," said ma lihong.
in reality, many people have been subject to administrative or criminal penalties for bad star-chasing behavior.
public reports show that "yang moumou (female, 18 years old, from jiaozuo, henan) publicly insulted gymnasts on an online social platform, causing adverse social impact. the henan public security bureau imposed administrative penalties on her in accordance with the law."
"the criminal suspect he moumou (female, 29 years old, from suzhou, jiangsu) posted information on the online social platform that slandered table tennis players and coaches, causing adverse social impact. on august 6, the beijing public security bureau took criminal compulsory measures against her in accordance with the law."
……
on august 15, the ministry of public security announced four typical cases of cracking down on illegal and criminal activities of "fan circles" in the sports field, and the above case is one of them. at the same time, the internet security department of the public security agency stated that it will continue to strengthen its work measures and severely crack down on illegal and criminal activities of "fan circles" in the sports field in accordance with the law.
strengthen crackdown and rectification
strengthen platform inspections
the chaos of "fan circle" has spread to the sports field. experts interviewed believe that on the one hand, due to the vigorous development of my country's sports industry and the increasing public attention to sports, sports stars are loved and sought after by the majority of audiences; on the other hand, in the absence of correct guidance and effective regulation, the "fan circle culture" that was originally criticized in the entertainment industry has invaded the sports circle and caused adverse effects.
"the infiltration of 'fan culture' into the sports world has actually been traced for a long time. as the saying goes, 'culture and sports are inseparable.' as a project of public concern, sports also have the characteristics of competitiveness, viewing and entertainment. sports stars with personal charm, like entertainment stars, will be sought after and emulated by fans, and become the main body of attracting attention and money." ma lihong said that the sports industry, like the entertainment industry, also has market-oriented operations, and sports stars also have their own brokerage companies. in order to increase the traffic of sports stars, some brokerage companies will deliberately introduce some operating models from the "fan circle", thereby enhancing the advertising value of sports stars and obtaining excess profits.
experts interviewed pointed out that the chaos in "fan circles" in the sports field is not only extremely disrespectful to the athletes themselves, but also a blatant trampling on the spirit of sports. it seriously misleads everyone's understanding of the athletes' true strength and performance, and is also a damage to the original purity, fairness and nobility of sports. it urgently needs to be effectively governed.
in august this year, the general administration of sport of china held a special working meeting to rectify the chaos in the "fan circle" in the sports field. it mentioned that the chaos in the "fan circle" seriously disrupted the order of sports work, damaged the reputation of the sports industry, and damaged the image of the sports front. therefore, it is necessary to resolutely resist the deformed "fan circle culture" and comprehensively strengthen the safety and privacy protection of athletes.
in ma lihong's view, the internet is not a lawless place, and "fan circles" are not a vicious circle outside the law. there are corresponding laws and regulations to regulate the illegal activities of "fan circles". for example, the civil code of my country stipulates the protection of personal privacy, reputation, and portrait rights; the criminal law has provisions for insults and defamation; the personal information protection law and internet regulations and policies have provisions on personal information protection and internet access. therefore, in order to govern the chaos of "fan circles" in the sports world, we must first clearly oppose "fan circle culture", advocate civilized star chasing, and spread positive energy information. schools and families should strengthen the education and guidance of minors, be vigilant against minors' uncontrolled "krypton gold" behavior for idols, and prevent them from being affected by "fan circle culture".
"the relevant departments should strengthen the governance of behaviors involving 'fan circles', especially those that are pushed by capital behind the scenes, and strict supervision and management must be carried out. in addition, my country's legislation on cyber violence is still imperfect. behaviors such as online water armies, marketing accounts, and professional black fans spreading rumors and slander can only be resolved through criminal private prosecutions and civil torts. however, criminal private prosecutions have the problem of difficulty in obtaining evidence, and civil litigation sometimes makes it difficult to hold violators accountable. to solve these problems, relevant laws and regulations need to be further improved." ma lihong said.
zhou xuliang suggested that relevant departments should, on the one hand, strengthen inspections of online platforms to promptly discover illegal "fan circle" behaviors, and on the other hand, strengthen warning publicity of relevant cases to achieve better preventive effects.
"we must achieve correct value guidance on the basis of effective supervision, and make the whole society, including those who participate in the 'fan circle', realize that the internet should not be a battlefield filled with smoke of gunpowder, and civilized and rational speech should be the obligation that every netizen should abide by. the media and social platforms should assume greater responsibility and play a greater role in guiding public values. they should strengthen the publicity and guidance of such topics and promote the formation of a healthy and positive sports culture in the whole society." zhou xuliang said.
it is worth noting that many star-chasing behaviors are currently presented through live broadcasts or short videos on platforms. in this regard, ma lihong believes that traffic is the platform's code for getting rich, but the platform also has the obligation to manage uploaded information. if violations are found and not dealt with, it may also constitute joint infringement.
"the platform should conduct necessary filtering and review of platform content through means such as keyword setting and complaint handling. once any illegal or unlawful content is found, it should be dealt with in a timely manner, such as deletion, blocking and other measures, or the account of serious violators should be blocked according to relevant platform regulations." ma lihong said.
source: legal daily
author: wen lijuan ma ziyu
