Research conclusion
From the second half of 2021 to the beginning of 2022, the concept of meta universe has attracted a lot of attention in a short time from the initial entry into public vision to the writing of multi real estate planning. But at the same time, what kind of policy environment will metauniverse face, whether there will be the risk of regulatory policy changes similar to bitcoin and Internet finance, what aspects may its regulatory framework include, and what overseas discussions can be used for reference? For these issues, the market discussion is not sufficient.
In December 2021, the website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection published an article "how the yuan universe rewrites human social life", which reminded the possible risks of the yuan universe, including capital manipulation, public opinion touting, economic risks and others (ethics, monopoly, computing power, privacy, addiction, intellectual property rights, etc.). Based on this article and relevant discussions at home and abroad, we divide the regulatory direction of metauniverse (which is also the focus of possible laws and regulations in the future) into the following categories:
More sensors and information collection increase the difficulty of personal information protection: immersive and interactive experience is an important feature of the meta universe, which means that the number of sensors required for relevant hardware devices and applications is unprecedented, and it is bound to collect a large amount of personal information, and the negative impact of data leakage or abuse will increase significantly.
Extension of intellectual property protection in the virtual world: for example, if someone uses a brand protected by intellectual property in the real world, does it belong to infringement? These problems will challenge the traditional concept of intellectual property protection.
Whether there is the risk of illegal transaction of cryptocurrency: the Chinese regulatory authorities have a clear attitude towards blockchain and digital currency. In the future, the regulatory needs of China's meta universe should be connected with the norms for digital currency and blockchain, and the imagination space of relevant practice should be treated reasonably.
Ethics related to artificial intelligence and other technologies: in September 2021, the code of ethics for a new generation of artificial intelligence was issued, which stipulates that various activities of artificial intelligence should follow the principle of promoting human well-being (adhering to people-oriented, following the common values of mankind, respecting human rights and the demands of human fundamental interests, and abiding by national or regional Ethics) Promote fairness and justice (promote the whole society to share the benefits of artificial intelligence) and a series of ethical norms.
Ensure the legal compliance of relevant application content: the most likely landing direction of the short-term metauniverse is games and cultural tourism, and these two types of applications need to face the supervision of content. At present, China's regulation of games is mainly reflected in the version number. In the actual operation of the new version number policy in 2016, the approval has been tightened year by year, and has been suspended for many times due to the strengthening of regulation. For the future meta universe games, they will also face similar challenges; In terms of culture and tourism, does it belong to the category of online games to show scenic spots or historical scenes through virtual means, do you need a version number, and do you need to access the anti addiction real name verification system or youth mode? In addition, should such projects obtain network culture operation license, Internet publishing license and network audio-visual program license? Relevant regulatory systems need to be clarified and improved.
From algorithm recommendation supervision to deep synthesis Supervision: if the governance of recommendation algorithm is the supervision of a series of current Internet applications that rely on automatic decision-making (such as personalized news customization, e-commerce product recommendation, social media, etc.), in the process of the gradual implementation of metauniverse, there will be more normative documents for algorithms to be established. On January 28, 2022, the Internet Information Department issued the regulations on the management of in-depth synthesis of Internet information services (Exposure Draft). Text chat Siasun Robot&Automation Co.Ltd(300024) , sound synthesis, sound cloning, face changing, 3D modeling and other applications are within the scope of supervision, which is considered to be an important response to the meta universe, and will not stop there in the future.
Potential changes of virtual interaction to social behavior: the aggressiveness and moral sense of virtual identity may be different from real humans, and whether users will also change their behavior after returning to the real world has been discussed in the current popularity of online games, and there may be more disputes in the meta universe, especially for teenagers.
Industrial investment and financial investment risks brought by speculation: on February 18, the CBRC issued a risk warning, pointing out that some criminals have recently rubbed hot spots and absorbed funds under the names of "yuancosmic investment project" and "yuancosmic chain Tour", which are suspected of illegal fund-raising, fraud and other illegal and criminal activities. According to the discussion in the industry, the meta universe is far from reaching the real landing level, and the industry chaos caused by speculation will hinder the financing and development of enterprises that really have advanced technology.
Risk tips: (1) some developed countries adopt financial subsidies to accelerate the development of relevant industries and achieve technological leadership, which will weaken China's advantages in market scale and data accumulation to a certain extent; (2) Negative events such as financial speculation and data leakage have affected the public's confidence in the industry.
