CCTV News:On October 27th, the State Council Press Office held a routine briefing on the State Council policy, introducing the regulations on the protection of minors’ network. Chen Jie, director of the Ninth Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, introduced at the meeting that procuratorial organs are the legal supervision organs of the country, and we have always attached great importance to the network protection of minors. We actively participate in the whole process of judicial protection, and comprehensively use the "four procuratorial" functions of criminal, civil, administrative and public interest litigation to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of minors, and at the same time promote the network protection and governance of minors according to law. Based on its functions, the procuratorial organs have taken the following main measures to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of minors.
First, maintain a "zero tolerance" attitude and resolutely crack down on illegal and criminal activities according to law. From January 2020 to September this year, procuratorial organs prosecuted 11,600 adults for allegedly using telecommunication networks to infringe on minors. In view of the problem of threatening girls to take nude photos by online chatting, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate issued guiding cases and established the principle of prosecution that indecent acts without physical contact are equivalent to offline crimes. At present, more than 3,000 people have been prosecuted.
The second is to strengthen litigation supervision and safeguard judicial justice. Through self-supplementary investigation, timely sending personnel to intervene in the investigation activities of major difficult and complicated cases, we dig deep and carefully investigate and forcefully accuse crimes. We have actively played the role of investigation, supervision and cooperation. Since 2022, 302 people have been corrected for crimes involving minors using telecommunication networks.
Third, pay attention to multiple measures and deepen comprehensive protection. Carry out multi-dimensional comprehensive rescue work for minors who have been infringed by the internet; For minors whose civil rights and interests have been damaged by the internet, the procuratorial organs support the prosecution according to law; Bring a public interest lawsuit against the infringement of the network rights and interests of the unspecified majority of minors. In the past three years, procuratorial organs have filed 524 public interest litigation cases involving minors’ online rights and personal information.
The fourth is to improve the system and mechanism to achieve both punishment and prevention. The Supreme People’s Procuratorate has specially formulated the Provisions of the People’s Procuratorate on Handling Cybercrime Cases, and worked with relevant departments to improve the handling norms and form a joint effort to crack down on the use of juvenile cybercrime. At the same time, the procuratorial organs carry out publicity and education on the rule of law through various forms such as "the rule of law enters the campus" and case interpretation, with the aim of guiding minors away from network crimes.
The fifth is to strengthen the coordination of departments and promote the governance of litigation sources. In view of the phenomenon of infringing on the physical and mental health of minors through the internet, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate issued the "No.6 Procuratorial Proposal" to urge relevant departments to promote comprehensive management. At the same time, we also focus on the development of new network formats, and urge relevant departments to introduce relevant work norms, such as explicitly prohibiting e-sports hotels from receiving minors in violation of regulations. Through procuratorial suggestions, public interest litigation, information exchange and communication, local procuratorial organs cooperated with relevant departments to carry out various forms such as "breaking cards" and "clearing the net" to promote the solution of outstanding problems such as minors indulging in online games and being infringed by bad information.
In the next step, the procuratorial organs will also take the opportunity of implementing the Regulations on the Protection of Minors’ Network to further strengthen the procuratorial and judicial protection, and join hands with the departments of network information, education, judicial administration and the Communist Youth League to jointly create a clear and safe network environment for our minors.