People’s Daily Overseas Edition： Hidden dangers such as vulgarization of short video content began to stand out.

Recently, a number of online video platforms have been ordered to rectify due to the massive dissemination of content that challenges the moral bottom line and even violates the law. Issued by Cheng Shuozuo Xinhua News Agency

"Seaweed Dance", "Finger Dance" and "Shoulder Shaking Dance" … These words are not unfamiliar to netizens who often browse short videos. With the maturity of mobile Internet technology, short video platforms, such as Tik Tok and Aauto Quicker, have risen rapidly, changing the usage habits of hundreds of millions of netizens. Compared with the live broadcast industry that was all the rage before, we found that today’s short video platform and live broadcast platform have many similarities-they are also full of vulgar information, which also cultivates online celebrity’s economy, which also causes teenagers to indulge, and also needs heavy treatment …

Nowadays, the live broadcast industry has entered a period of industry adjustment, and the demographic dividend has gradually disappeared. As the most optimistic "window" after the live broadcast, how long can the spring of the short video industry last? What are the hidden concerns of the short video platform that sings all the way?

"Fengkou period" promotes high growth

Short video, also known as short video, is a way of Internet content dissemination, which generally refers to video content that is spread on new Internet media for less than 5 minutes.

With the deepening of the speed-up and fee reduction of the mobile Internet, in the form of fragmented communication, short videos integrating skills sharing, humor and fashion trends have become a hot popular element.

The "2018 Short Video App Industry Analysis Report" shows that the short video industry has been in a state of rapid growth since various short video mobile phone applications were launched in 2011. From 2016 to 2017, it ushered in a blowout period, and the number of new online mobile phone applications reached 235.

The great-leap-forward development of short video market has attracted the strong layout of Internet and capital market giants. Stimulated by the expansion of investment and the online celebrity effect, short video users have also begun to surge. QuestMobile cmnet Annual Report 2017 shows that the number of users in the short video industry has exceeded 410 million in 2017, with a year-on-year growth rate of 116.5%.

The huge number of users and traffic means a lot of benefits. It is understood that the profit of the short video industry mainly depends on the advertising revenue brought by traffic, the e-commerce model and the user payment model such as rewards. For example, in March this year, shopping cart buttons began to appear on the account pages of millions of fans in Tik Tok. Click the button to see the product recommendation information and jump directly to the purchase page. Due to the rapid growth of sales, Taobao has also specially launched the search and recommendation of popular models in Tik Tok.

"Curing vulgarity" requires heavy punches

Behind the seemingly prosperous market, multiple hidden dangers such as lack of access threshold, vulgarization of content, and difficulty in effectively avoiding risks by self-censorship mechanism have also begun to emerge.

Since March this year, many short video platforms have become the target of public opinion. Many netizens found that there are a lot of vulgar and harmful contents such as "underage mothers", fake and fake videos, and dangerous action imitation on major short video platforms such as Tik Tok and Aauto Quicker.

In response to the growing trend of public opinion, the National Network Information Office interviewed the principals of the two platforms, Volcano Video and Aauto Quicker. Subsequently, videos of Aauto Quicker and Volcano were removed from major app stores. The short video platform "Connotation Duan Zi" was also ordered to shut down permanently.

A few days ago, according to the bulletin of the State Administration of Radio and Television, this year, in view of the outstanding problems existing in the current online video industry, the State Administration of Radio and Television, together with local administrative departments, cleared the way with "combination punches" such as interviews, rectification, taking off the shelves and permanently shutting down the problematic products, and seriously held accountable video websites with serious problems such as "Today’s headlines" and "Aauto Quicker" according to law. A number of short video and live broadcast websites and comprehensive video websites have responded to management requirements and actively carried out self-examination and self-correction. More than 40,000 illegal accounts were banned, 4,512 live broadcast rooms were closed, 2,083 anchors were banned, and more than 13.5 million problem messages were intercepted.

In addition to vulgar content, other illegal chaos on short video platforms is also full of tricks. The most criticized is all kinds of false marketing information.

Open some short video pages of online celebrities, and various brands of clothes, shoes, bags and cosmetics will come into view. Some of these platforms can directly guide users to click and buy through the "shopping cart" button, while others can enter the micro-store page for direct marketing. However, the problems of fake and shoddy products, no products and high prices have made many netizens complain.

The reporter entered a WeChat circle of friends in online celebrity by adding WeChat on the Aauto Quicker platform, and found that all kinds of brand-name watches, clothing and other products were displayed every day. However, there was no identification and after-sales guarantee mechanism for the sale of these products, so it was difficult to tell the authenticity.

Some people think that the short video platform is "technology neutral" and "the algorithm is not guilty", but more voices say that even advanced algorithms and technologies need the guidance of values. "Behind the algorithm is people, and the defect of the algorithm is the defect of values." Su Hua, CEO of Aauto Quicker, said.

"Anti-addiction" becomes the focus

An 8-year-old boy in Xi ‘an, Shaanxi Province, caused his 6-year-old brother to trip and fall because of imitating the whole video of "tape sticking to the door" on Tik Tok. A teenager was addicted to "Tik Tok" for three months, his academic performance plummeted, and he even chose to run away from home …

Although the vulgar information on short video platforms has been greatly reduced after heavy blows, all kinds of news about minors indulging in short video platforms such as Tik Tok continue to ferment, and the voice of "letting the children go" keeps coming and going.

Recently released "Investigation Report on Internet Use and Network Security of Teenagers in China" shows that teenagers in contemporary China have "touched the Internet" earlier, and about 60% of them started to touch the Internet at the age of 6 to 10. Among them, 20% of teenagers said that they were "almost always" watching short videos.

A questionnaire survey of a third-grade head teacher in a primary school in Hangzhou shows that 21 out of 34 students in the class have seen Tik Tok, and 4 have uploaded their own short videos. A similar survey in Jinan also shows that in a class of 37 primary school students, 21 students have seen short vibrato videos, and some have recorded short videos.

All these figures show that it has become a common social problem for minors to indulge in short video platforms such as Tik Tok. In this regard, Tik Tok has launched Tik Tok management tools, including time lock and content filter, and also set up anti-addiction function: if users use it for more than 2 hours a day, the system will automatically lock it and need to enter the password again before using it.

However, after the reporter opens the Tik Tok software and turns on the time lock function, although it will be locked if it is used for more than 2 hours in a single day, it only takes about 30 seconds to uninstall and reinstall the software, so it can continue to be used. This shows that the so-called anti-addiction function can be easily cracked.

Qi Le, executive director of the Public Opinion Laboratory of Peking University Internet Development Research Center, said that the problem of most short video platforms at present is that there is no access threshold. At least the game platform needs real-name authentication and the protection mechanism for minors, and most short video platforms can be refreshed and watched at any time even if they are not registered, which is the most harmful loophole for minors.

Nowadays, the supervision of vulgar and harmful information on short video platforms has achieved results. However, "explicit" vulgar information is easy to control, while "implicit" addictive characteristics and negative and money worship tendencies are difficult to identify and guide.

Experts said that the root cause of the addiction and anesthesia effect caused by the short video platform is the lack of mainstream culture on the Internet. Although the short video is short, the supervision cannot be "short", which requires more in-depth and detailed supervision measures and advocacy of high-quality mainstream culture on the Internet.