The Legal Boundary Of Freedom Of Expression On Social Network

Social Network, as a main representative of New Media, now is leading us into a newworld of Web2.0. By moving our social group in real lives into internet, people around theworld has been heavily linked through social network. Differ to traditional media and newmedia, social network is not only working as a tool of copying our social group from reallives to cyberspace. It owns faster speed in information dissemination, a wider range forspreading, and stronger interaction with information, etc. However, social network is atwo edged sword. On the one hand, it improves both the efficiency of informationdissemination and the interaction between internet users; on the other, it becomes thecradle of disseminating harmful information, such as false information, violentinformation, pornographic information, etc. By enjoying the convenience brought by thesocial network, we should also consider how to face with those social problems leaded bythe social network. Beyond on this, we should analyze how to protect the freedom ofexpression on social network, and how to prevent social network being malicious used.This thesis first analyzes the dialectical relation between social network, freedom ofexpression and social conflicts. To begin with, how to define social network, freedom ofexpression and social conflicts are the basics of this article. The freedom of expression atsocial network is also different from real lives, it shows us immediacy, interaction andcrumbliness. In addition, the expression at social network may also highlight hot-buttonissues, which includes the appearance, escalation and solution of social conflicts. Then Iintroduces the laws and regulations of others countries in protecting the freedom ofexpression at social network. Those countries mentioned in this article are United States,Germany, and Korea. As the original source of social network, United States laws andregulations related to the freedom of expression at social network can be a valuablereference. Germany is the first country in this world to publish special law on cyberspaceand it has attracted attention from global world. In addition, Korea is the first country tomandatory require real name on internet. Though real name will fade away, itprovides a lot of experience in regulating the expression at social network. Sincenowadays, social network is becoming more and more popular in China. It also lead to more Reputation Infringement Disputes and Privacy Infringement Disputes. By analyzingthe characteristics of the reputation infringement and privacy infringement on socialnetwork, we can better understand the legal boundary between them.At last, this thesis discusses several hot issues happened at social network between2011and2012in China, in order to understand the status quo and new characters of socialnetwork in China. Then comparing with those laws and regulations mentioned in Part II,and based on the actual conditions of China, I d like to provide several suggestions inprotecting the express environment of China, and preventing the harmful informationdissemination at social network.