Netizen deputies are allowed to participate in the decision-making process of public affairs. They are also equally authorized to perform the duties of deputies to people's congresses to supervise governance and justice, which demonstrates more openness and transparency in the political system.

Li Ming (Oriental Morning Post): Apart from the controversial legitimacy of netizen deputies, their steps into people's congresses are positive signs of political democracy. Their devotion to anti-corruption and public benefit reveals good intentions. Not only are government officials and business people capable of being lawmakers, but also ordinary people can contribute more to safeguarding public interests.

Shan Shibing (Chinese Business View): The Internet world exists as a type of citizen community, which deserves equal attention from the authorities. The inclusion of four netizen representatives in local legislative and advisory bodies of Luoyang is not expected to carry the hopes of all Chinese Internet users. But the move to some extent confirms the political status of millions of Chinese netizens.

Who do they represent?

Wang Wenqi (Guangzhou Daily): Netizen deputies' status is legally baseless according to current electoral laws and regulations, which stipulate that deputies to people's congresses must be elected by geographical constituencies. It is impractical for cyberspace to be designated as a constituency.

Netizens may argue that rules can be revised in certain situations, such as the special clause to maintain a certain proportion of women deputies to people's congresses. But netizens are different. Due to easier access to the Internet, netizens of varied social groups. find a virtual world where they can talk freely. The authorities should take their opinions seriously to further improve governance. Also the government should put more effort into maintaining a healthy and efficient network as an open platform for citizens to express their true feelings, which may in turn provide good political advice.

Fu Dalin (Legal Daily): The popularity of online communities is largely driven by the widely accepted anonymity principle. In reality, however, citizens involving themselves in the administration of public affairs are required to be credible with true identities.

The Internet platform is open to discussion of a handful of government policies, wherever those netizens come from. But as far as electoral procedures are concerned, it doesn't work, and thus netizen deputies are challenged by questions about their qualifications, including broad constituency lines that cannot be identified via the Internet.

Netizen deputies are possible channels for conveying online opinions to the government. But the Internet itself is a complexity of diverse views. Even though the deputies bring common opinions to lawmaking bodies, they might not be sure of the authenticity of the opinions. False information flowing through the Internet may mislead policymakers into making wrong decisions. If the government widely adopts public opinions to push the development of political democracy, it needs to regulate online behavior to ensure a clean Internet environment first.

Chun Hua (Modern Express): Motions by deputies to people's congresses are required to be deliberated, while governmental departments are obliged to respond to their inquiries about administrative performance. It is true that the motions may not be extensively spread among online communities, but they are much more powerful and politically influential. Reserving seats for netizens in people's congresses at various levels is not essential however, as long as all lawmakers listen to the vast netizen population attentively and share their views.

Wei Yingjie (Shanghai Business): Internet users live in cyberspace with their true identities unknown. Any habitual user of the Internet is called a netizen, whether government officials and business people, or workers and farmers, or even the unemployed. It is not clear exactly which social groups netizen deputies represent, or who they are speaking for. And thus netizen deputies are substantially different from those chosen by actual electorates in terms of representation.