Liu Leyi and Sun Yuting

Shang Hai Chunzuo (Xinhua News Agency)

The police of the Daji Police Station of the Cao County Public Security Bureau of Heze City, Shandong Province, went deep into the Hanfu processing enterprise in Daji Town to carry out a publicity campaign to crack down on rumors and popularize the law. Photo by Dong Xide (People's Vision)

Huaihai Technician College of Jiangsu Province has built a live broadcast base with enterprises through a new model of "school + enterprise + MCN institution". The picture shows the students of the college conducting live sales. Photo by Lu Qihui (People's Vision)

Police officers from the Huashan Police Station of the Hanshan County Public Security Bureau in Ma'anshan City, Anhui Province explained the knowledge of preventing online rumors to left-behind children. Photo by Feng Shanjun (People's Vision)

With the rapid development of short video platforms and the Internet celebrity economy, the market size of MCN institutions (online information content multi-channel distribution service agencies) has expanded rapidly. At the same time, due to the excessive pursuit of traffic, some MCN institutions have repeatedly challenged public order and good customs and even the bottom line of the law, and the chaos in the industry needs to be rectified urgently.

Recently, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) issued the "Provisions on the Management of Relevant Business Activities of Online Information Content Multi-channel Distribution Service Institutions (Draft)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Draft") and solicited public comments. The Draft clarifies the legal status, responsibilities and obligations of MCN institutions, and explicitly prohibits them from directly organizing, instigating, entrusting, or assisting in signing online accounts to carry out acts such as publishing online rumors and inciting netizens' emotions, putting a regulatory "curse" on MCN institutions.

The chaos in the industry needs to be rectified urgently

MCN institutions refer to institutions that are settled on online information content service platforms and provide planning, production, marketing, and other related services for online information content creators.

To put it simply, MCN agencies are like "brokers" for online information content creators, who are responsible for managing and operating creators' online accounts, helping accounts increase exposure, expanding audiences, providing professional content production, and assisting accounts in cooperation with advertisers and brands.

From the perspective of the profit method of MCN institutions, advertising release, live broadcast reward, knowledge payment, etc. are very common, and some MCN institutions make profits through new models such as creating their own brands and launching technical services, but no matter which form it is, it is ultimately inseparable from traffic: whether the account is successful depends on the traffic; Are there any advertising collaborations? to see the flow ...... With the fierce competition in the industry, driven by the "traffic theory", the "deceptive routines" of some MCN institutions have emerged in an endless stream.

"The more bitter and miserable, the greater the traffic", this is the principle that some MCN organizations follow when planning video plots. In recent years, rumors involving the group of delivery workers such as "fake riders posing for auctions" have frequently appeared, some rumors have been labeled as "unemployed and forced to deliver takeaways" and other labels to catch the eye, and some have fabricated "riders take sick children to run orders late at night" and other bridges to gain sympathy. Relevant surveys show that from props procurement to script design, to video shooting, hype and dissemination, a gray industrial chain has been formed to create a "rider's bitter lover".

Experts point out that these "miserable" methods can effectively mobilize users' empathy, and the cost of writing such "scripts" is also very low. If the platform does not constrain and adjust these traffic-oriented algorithmic recommendation mechanisms, it is likely to induce the rapid spread of such "miserable" online information.

Some MCN organizations also engage in illegal acts such as infringing on users' personal information. Not long ago, the Xinfeng Public Security Bureau of Ganzhou City, Jiangxi Province investigated and punished 8 MCN institutions suspected of illegally obtaining citizens' personal information in accordance with the law, these institutions used illegal software to purchase real-name accounts and log in in batches, forwarded and transported articles on other platforms on a certain network platform, and obtained network traffic to make profits.

Liu Xiaochun, director of the Internet Rule of Law Research Center of the University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, commented that these behaviors of MCN institutions not only disrupt the order of the network, but also have a negative impact on the social atmosphere and public interests, and seriously damage the online content ecology.

Supervision covers the whole chain

Intensifying the crackdown on illegal activities on the Internet has become the consensus of all parties in society. In order to curb the chaos in the MCN industry, the relevant parties have been taking action. For example, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) has deployed a series of "Qing Lang" special actions in 2025 years, focusing on rectifying malicious marketing in the field of short videos, cracking down on false posing, fake personas, false marketing, and hyping controversial topics.

This time, the Cyberspace Administration of China issued special normative regulations, which will provide strong guidance for the standardized development of MCN institutions, and also make the work of the regulatory authorities more rule-based and well-documented.

The author combs and finds that the Draft clarifies the legal status, responsibilities and obligations of MCN institutions, establishes a comprehensive and clear normative system for the behavioral boundaries and responsibilities of MCN institutions, and requires them to comply with laws and regulations and respect social morality when providing planning, production, marketing, brokerage and other related services.

In terms of entry thresholds, the Draft proposes that MCN institutions engaged in performances, programs, and other activities shall obtain relevant professional qualifications or service qualifications in accordance with laws and regulations.

內容管控方面，《草案稿》為MCN機構劃定了明確的紅線，列出了禁止其直接或組織、教唆、委託、協助簽約的網路賬號實施翻炒舊聞舊事、利用“網紅兒童”牟利、宣揚不良價值觀、渲染炒作突發案事件等12種行為，覆蓋內容生產全鏈條。

The Draft clarifies the information disclosure and other mechanisms for MCN institutions. MCN institutions are required to bind their online accounts, and make appropriate information disclosures in the registration of online accounts and the proposed change of account information, so as to increase transparency. Liu Xiaochun said that through a series of binding and disclosure requirements, it can substantively establish a standardized system for the management, disclosure and governance of the association between MCN institutions and their accounts, effectively improve the transparency of the public and regulatory authorities, and effectively prevent the chaos caused by improper batch management of accounts by MCN institutions.

It is worth mentioning that the Draft also strengthens the main responsibility of online platforms in the process of implementing the regulation and management of MCN institutions, and requires the platform to establish a complete set of governance mechanisms for the regulation and management of MCN institutions. For example, platforms should establish hierarchical management systems based on indicators such as the compliance status of MCN institutions, the number of accounts under their umbrella and the total number of followers, and employ corresponding management measures to prevent information content risks. Industry insiders pointed out that this will urge the platform to improve the internal management process, which will not only help improve the platform's own governance capabilities, but also improve the professional level and service quality of MCN institutions.

"The promulgation of the Draft marks that China's Internet content industry will move from 'savage growth' to the stage of 'refined governance'." Zheng Manning, director of the Institute of Internet and New Media at the China University of Political Science and Law, said, "The implementation of these new regulations will significantly reduce the spread of false information and bad content, thereby purifying the online environment and enhancing the credibility of the industry." ”

Standardize governance and promote healthy development

The standardized development of MCN institutions is the only way for their long-term development, and it is also an inevitable requirement for the healthy development of the Internet content ecology. Experts pointed out that the introduction of the draft will bring many benefits to the entire industry.

In terms of content quality improvement, the new regulations will prompt MCN institutions to pay more attention to the compliance and quality of content, reduce the spread of vulgar, false and misleading content, and improve the overall content quality.

Correspondingly, the strengthening of content moderation will also increase the operating costs of institutions, and in the future, small and medium-sized MCN institutions will face a reshuffle. According to the analysis of industry insiders, the new regulations are through the formulation of strict rules to screen MCN institutions that meet the requirements and are willing to develop in compliance.

Under the new regulations, the non-standard operating models of some institutions may be adjusted.

"After the introduction of the new regulations, MCN institutions that used to rely on non-standard business models such as traffic fraud need to abandon the old model and re-explore sustainable monetization methods." Zheng Manning suggested that in the future, on the one hand, MCN institutions should rely on technology empowerment to achieve "throttling", strengthen compliance systems and technical capacity building, and use compliance technologies such as AI audit and blockchain certificate preservation to reduce enterprise costs; On the other hand, it is necessary to actively explore a variety of monetization models such as advertising, e-commerce, and knowledge payment in order to "open source".

Liu Xiaochun pointed out that by standardizing MCN institutions and network platforms, it is not only conducive to improving the overall quality of cyberspace, but also creating a better network experience for users and promoting the healthy development of the online information content ecology. "It is expected that the draft will be implemented after legal procedures to provide institutional support for the healthy and orderly development of MCN institutions, and I also hope that MCN institutions and online platforms can take this opportunity to focus more on content innovation and value delivery, and inject a steady stream of positive energy into the development and governance of the online content industry."