| In the we-media era, the phenomenon of fabrication and dissemination of rumors by public figures on the Internet should be effectively regulated through the improvement of the theory on public figures. In the past, the traditional theory on public figures had been able to strike an effective balance between the rights of the general public, of the media and of public figures. However, this balance has been broken by the rapid development of we-media, hence it is necessary to expand and deepen the theory on public figures. Firstly, the subject scope of public figures should be expanded to include not only natural persons, but also legal persons and other social organizations; and secondly, in deciding whether an act constitutes an infringement, a distinction should be made between substantive malice and common malice. Effective regulation of the rumors fabricated or spread by public figures on the Internet requires a rational understanding of the positive and negative effects of such rumors. Direct methods of regulation include establishing rules of anonymity that can be tracked and creating moderate "chilling effect" through institutional design; indirect methods of regulation include fostering a rational Internet culture and nurturing an ideas market based on the principle of "fair play". |
京公网安备11010102006664号 京ICP备2023015853号