Study On The Legal Regulation Over The Freedom Of Online Speech

The communication about online information and its spread can positively furtherthe fulfillment of political rights such as citizens’ freedom of speech, right to know andright of supervision. At the same time, however, online speech will also createappropriate conditions for the abuse of right to freedom of speech as a result of itsanonymous, arbitrary and disorderly characteristics, which will further result in thesevere damage to national interest, social public interest and private interest. Nowadays,the core contradiction emerging in the information era when the country governs thefreedom of online speech is to protect the security of national information, and maintainsocial public morality and other legal rights and interests of citizens while guaranteeingcitizens’ right to freedom of online speech.Firstly, this paper gives an introduction to the legal regulation background of thefreedom of online speech in China. As a brand-new way to the realization of speechfreedom, network can not only yield a positive effect, but also lead to negative result.For this reason, there is a need to make a judgment and analysis in a rational anddialectic way.Secondly, emphasis is placed on analyzing the current status of the regulation overthe freedom of online speech in China. Through reviewing the specific provisions ofrelated laws and rules, energy is devoted to making a summary and elaboration from theperspective of citizens and online service providers who are the subjects of legalregulation. The stipulations about citizen’s freedom of online speech are primarilyembodied in two aspects, including prohibitive provisions and legal responsibilities,whereas those about online service provider’s freedom of online speech are primarilyembodied as the directly regulative and strict liability provisions of governmentaldepartments. In addition, China also imposes constraints on the freedom of onlinespeech by dint of industrial organizations’ self-discipline and technology.Afterwards, efforts are spent in analyzing the problems of the legal regulation overfreedom of online speech in China. Law-making faces the problems including lowlegislation level and legislative procedure’s lack of public participation. The contents oflaws place excessive emphasis on government’s management over online speechwithout paying attention to the respect and the guarantee for the freedom of speech. Inspecific practices, there even are the illegal behaviors that infringe upon citizen’s right to freedom of online speech through the misuse of power.Finally, an immature conception is proposed for the legal regulation over thefreedom of online speech. On the one hand, there is a need to improve the legalregulation of legislative procedure，not only to enhance the legislation level aboutfreedom of speech online，but also to increase the public participation of the legislativeprocess. On the other hand, it is necessary to improve specific contents of legalregulation, and the contents that violate upper-level law as well as the administrativeregulations of the Constitution shall be abolished or modified. In addition, energy shallbe devoted to clearly defining scope of the freedom of online speech as well as toestablishing and perfecting the remedy procedure after the infringement upon the rightto the freedom of online speech. Moreover, governmental departments are also requiredto provide a sound system as a guarantee, and Internet Society of China and internetusers required to perform the acts of self-regulation and self-restraint.