Online live streaming is big business nowadays, raking in huge profits and attracting hundreds of millions of viewers. In addition to adults, this flourishing sector is now drawing underage live streamers. According to a report by the Sina Weibo Data Center, as early as in 2016, live streamers aged 11-16 accounted for 12 percent of all streamers in China. The figure has been rising still, while streamers are getting younger.

While showing the tech savviness of young people, it has an adverse side as well. There have been controversies like webcasts by minors who flaunted their pregnancy. These and other controversies have stirred up heated discussions on whether there should be a sweeping ban on underage live streamers or at least a partial ban.

Some legal experts recently issued a report on protection of minors in the cyberspace, suggesting that those under 14 should be restricted from independently live streaming and posting videos online. They should be allowed to do so only when they are accompanied by their parents or have their parents' consent.

While most people taking part in the public debates say minors should be blocked from this sector, there are however some who think that as long as there are explicit standards and supervision, minors should be allowed to live stream.

Ban, a better option

Mao Jianguo (Southern Metropolis Daily): Rapid Internet development has brought humdingers like webcasts and short videos, which are now growing into a big industry. Like others, this industry too is not immune to negative things. Nowadays, webcasts are suspected of having become a hotbed of improper programs. Particularly, the involvement of minors in this industry is making the situation more complicated.

In 2017, the media reported that some live streaming platforms were showing indecent exposure by minors. In 2018, some short video platforms carried live streaming by pregnant underage girls who showed their pregnancy kits and antepartum examinations. It triggered a demand that these webcasts be blacklisted and they were.

The government has already taken a series of precautionary measures, such as requiring real-name authentication and limiting online time for kids. Despite these efforts, a lot of challenges still exist. So banning children under the age of 14 from webcasting and posting short videos will help to solve the problem fundamentally.

In spite of continuous calls for underage webcasts to be banned, some argue that the focus should be on content, not on the age of live streamers. This suggestion, while it seems reasonable, fails to see three problems.

First, a large number of webcast platforms are profit-driven, so no one can guarantee that they will not produce improper content involving minors. Second, the impact of webcasts on the underage goes beyond the content. It eats so deeply into the young generation's time that it might destroy the future of the young. Third, if webcasts are seen as an industry, then to use minors as live streamers violates China's Labor Law.

A blanket ban on webcasts by minors is indeed not the best option, but there are seldom perfect options in the world. In most cases, we have to choose the lesser of two evils. The webcast sector, though it is prospering, has been found to be unhealthy in some aspects. So there must be some way to cure it for its long-term good.

Webcasts are not something minors should get involved in. Their major task is to study and grow up in a healthy way. The webcast sector is not supposed to capitalize on children. Some argue that to shield children from Internet ills, one has to address not just Internet problems but problems in real life. Why are more children getting increasingly addicted to the Internet? Why is the real world losing appeal for them?

Indeed, it's important to tackle problems in the real world but this does not mean that problems in cyberspace should be ignored.

Standardize, not ban

Zhang Dongmei (Guangzhou Daily): Acting cute while doing homework, pitching cosmetic brands as models, dancing and singing, more and more children are live streaming these days. So regulating the involvement of underage streamers has become an urgent issue.

To totally reject underage streamers is not the best choice. We are now in an Internet era where live streaming and short videos are already common. The underage also have the right to participate in Internet-related business, which should be respected and guaranteed. To bar them is unwise and impossible. But of course, without proper guidance and standards to rein them in, they can be easily misled and tempted by monetary baits, which could result in their lives being ruined.

Also, the underage audience of underage streamers might be misled by improper content as well. Therefore, it's necessary and even urgent to standardize the underage webcast sector.

There are many reasons minors take to live streaming. Some are there for fun and to showcase their artistic talent, some come to make money, and some to spend their free time. Therefore, a sweeping ban on all underage streamers seems to be going too far. There have been some suggestions that children under 14 should be banned from live streaming or posting their videos online unless they've got consent from their parents or are accompanied by their parents.

It's not that children's live streaming should be stopped but there must be some criteria and guidance. The content of live streaming is more important than age. To ensure healthy live streaming by children, there should be some compulsory preconditions.

Tian Ge (Beijing Youth Daily): Online live streaming has seen a boom in recent years, but obviously, this sector needs to be standardized, especially underage live streamers. Some think that before this sector is cleaned up, children should be kept away. Their worry is not groundless. All illegal or immoral activities in the adult world will have much more serious consequences if they occur among the underage, and might ruin the children involved.

It's been found that a large number of underage streamers are drinking, smoking or even exposing to attract viewers. It's also a matter of concern that by doing so, they can earn a handsome income. The appeal of live streaming is so strong that few of them can resist it. In the best case scenario, live streaming will affect children's schoolwork and waste their precious youth; in the worst case scenario, they will develop bad values and an improper outlook, which will damage their future.

There are calls for the underage to stay away from live streaming, and some webcast companies have said that they will not allow streamers under the age of 18. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism stipulates that online live streamers must register by using their ID.

However, the reality is that many minors choose to circumvent that by using the IDs of adults, who also go through the face scanning required for verification. All this means that to block minors from webcasting, it's not enough to depend on their self-discipline.

Parents should tell their children about the downside of getting involved in live streaming so that children develop an objective attitude toward live streaming. Adults should not lend their IDs to children to register for live streaming. And the watchdogs must patrol webcast platforms more actively and remove all unauthorized videos of underage streamers.

Take age-wise measures

Editorial (The Beijing News): Given the chaos in China's online streaming sector, efforts must be made to rectify the situation. Apart from improper content, when underage girls live stream their pregnancy photos and pregnancy test kits, their privacy is breached. Also, since people's values and outlook on life are formed in their teens, such live streaming experiences may distort their outlook, whether they are the actual live streamers or the underage audience.

But a sweeping ban on underage live streamers is not the best option. It's better to divide minors into different age groups. Banning those under the age of 14 from registering as live streamers is fine since they are still undergoing compulsory education and live streaming will affect their school work.

For those between 14 and 18, since they are mostly outside the purview of compulsory education, they can be allowed to live stream but they must be accompanied by adults and get their guardians' consent. Besides, the content of their live streaming must be supervised. Restrictions on underage streamers' live streaming are especially necessary as they might be misguided otherwise and then their future might be ruined.

Copyedited by Sudeshna Sarkar

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