“Interconnection” has recently become a hot word in China’s Internet field. The direct reason is that the “special rectification action on market order in the Internet industry” launched by the Ministry of industry and information technology in July this year takes the interconnection of website links as one of the key points, that is, to rectify “incompatible behaviors such as malicious shielding of website links of services or products of other Internet enterprises”, Two typical scenarios are listed: first, instant messaging software with external website access function restricts the identification, analysis and normal access of website links of other Internet enterprise services or products without justified reasons; Second, the application software with information release function implements discriminatory shielding measures against the website links of other Internet enterprise services or products with the same conditions without justified reasons.
The guidelines for the classification and classification of Internet platforms (Draft for comments) and the guidelines for the implementation of main responsibilities of Internet platforms (Draft for comments) recently issued by the State Administration of market supervision put forward the obligations of openness, compatibility and non discrimination for Internet platforms, and further promoted the topic of interconnection.
Before the special rectification of the Ministry of industry and information technology, phenomena such as platform ban and link shielding had long become the norm of China’s Internet, and the related media reports and academic research were also carried out from different levels and angles. Behind this is the deep thinking about where China’s Internet development is going.
“Website link” is the most primitive and common way of information dissemination on the Internet. Lifting the link “shielding” is only the first level of interconnection.
preliminary “open external chain”
The first is the “direct” degree of opening. At present, many platforms still do not realize non discriminatory direct opening. Before November 29, compared with the “straight chain” that most users can open or jump directly with one click, an intermediate transition page will appear after clicking the external link, indicating that “the page may not be provided by the platform, and the platform cannot ensure the security of the content. If you want to continue to visit, please protect your personal information”, You need to click “continue to visit” again to open the link.
The second is the scene range of “open external chain”. As mentioned above, the current external link opening is only feasible in the scenario of sending links one-to-one. After November 29, some external links can be opened in the group chat scenario. If the same external links are sent to other scenarios such as the circle of friends and the external links under the group chat scenario, after clicking, it still displays “if you need to browse, please long-term press the website to copy and use the browser to access”, Compared with before the special action, many platforms have not changed their settings.
Finally, it is the form of opening the outer chain. For external links, in most cases, users can only spread in the text form of a string of URL letters, but can not adopt other forms. In contrast, other platforms “direct chain” can be displayed in the form of “card” through the link forwarding function, just like the common form of forwarding the link of the platform. You can see the title, picture, profile and other information on the card, which is convenient for users to understand the content at a glance. In fact, this formal restriction may also be an important reason why users do not have obvious perception after a platform can partially open the external chain. For users who are used to card display, the URL link composed of a string of letters is difficult to bring the same attraction in the use experience.
three levels of “interconnection
Then, the next question is whether the implementation of the basic Internet spirit of “interconnection” should stop at the current incomplete “opening of the external chain”. After that, where should “interconnection” go?
As far as China’s Internet Ecology is concerned, interconnection should solve at least three levels of problems: link blocking, data blocking and ecological blocking.
the first level: open links
The interconnection of “link blocking” solves the obstacles to the flow of information and content. Through the screening “blocking” of specific links, the platform actually has the right to control the display and dissemination of some information among users. The control of harmful and bad information is not only necessary, but also the responsibility of the platform. However, targeted link blocking only for competitive purposes will produce obvious externalities. The benefit is the platform itself, including users and other competitive platforms, And the possible loss of public interest caused by the obstruction of information flow.
Specifically, the effect of “link blocking” on hindering and blocking the flow of information includes at least three aspects.
First, it hinders the efficiency of information transmission, sharing and information dissemination among users. One to one, one to many and many to many information communication between users is the due meaning of the topic of Internet Interconnection. The information transmission and release behavior initiated by users actively reflects the rights and interests of users such as freedom of communication. Restrictions on them need to be reasonable, otherwise they may damage the rights and interests of users. For example, if telecom service providers intercept short messages sent between users for competitive purposes, it is likely to exceed the scope of rationality and legitimacy.
Secondly, as the information display and dissemination of the Internet increasingly rely on large platforms, if the platform can restrict or guide the information dissemination without restrictions, it may lead to the platform’s right to intervene, shape and guide the dissemination of information and content, affect the public’s right to know and hinder the formation of an effective public discussion space.
Finally, through “link blocking”, the platform can effectively “lock” the user’s attention and use time in its own system to prevent the leakage of “traffic”, which is the common explanation for the commercial level of platform link blocking. Such “locking” is in line with the platform’s own interests, but building a wall between different platforms and systems through this behavior is not in line with the open spirit of the Internet, but also in violation of the platform’s own commitment to “opening”. For other platform operators, it will also unreasonably increase their costs and hinder the cross platform circulation of data elements.
the second level: Data openness
The interconnection of “data blockade” goes beyond the simple information dissemination itself and involves the effective flow of data and other production factors and the formation of a unified and orderly data factor market.
Discriminatory “data blockade” may involve the application of anti-monopoly law. In addition to the anti-monopoly law, it is also a general trend for countries to require large Internet platforms to implement non discriminatory and open macro policy guidance. Behind it are concerns about the effects of “data blockade” such as data island and data separation.
The impact of “data blockade” on the interests of other subjects in the platform economy is also very obvious. In addition to other platforms with competitive relations, for users, cross platform data transfer demands represented by the portability of personal data are rising. For operators in the platform, they will use their productive data assets accumulated in the platform ecology, such as reputation, sales volume Traffic, etc., which can be used in different platforms, is one of the important demands of small and medium-sized businesses to improve their business environment.
Through the data opening and exchange of different functions, realize the expansion and extension of the open platform system, attract various subjects such as content production and commercial operation to join the platform system, obtain traffic with an “open” attitude and business model, further accumulate data and other production factors, and enhance user attraction and use stickiness. In this sense, data exchange and sharing actually become the “stepping stone” to join a platform. By opening or blocking data, the platform can control its open boundary and decide whether the resources in the platform architecture are open or closed to specific subjects.
The “data blockade” of the platform is not only for other platforms that may have competitive threats, but also for operators on other platforms. When the platform refuses to provide services by means of API data exchange and applet access, the rejected operators are faced with the situation that they cannot use their accumulated data elements across the platform, but need to carry out repeated operations and investments in different platforms. Individual users also face a similar situation, unable to get through or use the data accumulated on various platforms, which increases the use cost to a certain extent. In this sense, the interconnection between platforms is not mainly beneficial to large platforms, as some scholars say, but can really establish the circulation of data and other elements for operators and individual users in the platform, so as to reduce the operation and use costs.
Another case of “data blocking” is that the platform eliminates the crawling of public data by search engines by setting robots protocol or technical measures. At present, the anti unfair competition judicial practice related to data ownership also tends to support such restrictions. The platform provides retrieval services for these content data by building its own search engine. However, the negative effects of such public data blocking are also worthy of vigilance. In the case of the prevalence of mobile Internet algorithm push, it is of positive significance for the general search engine to meet the needs of users to actively retrieve and obtain information. It is also one of the most important ways for the effective and smooth dissemination of information in the Internet environment. If the platform is allowed to set restrictions on public data and establish exclusive ownership of public data at will, it may aggravate the “information island” and “information cocoon room” effect, which is not conducive to the disclosure and smooth flow of valuable information.
the third level: ecological opening
The third level of interconnection should also be the most important goal, that is, to open the closed Internet platform ecology and form a truly “ecological open” Internet.
In a sense, “ecological openness” is the overall presentation of the openness of specific elements such as links, data and traffic. But “ecological openness” has its independent meaning. In addition to opening external links, allowing data exchange, opening up traffic channels and other specific forms of expression, “ecological opening” is an opening of concept, culture and development model, a choice of what kind of innovation path China needs next, and an answer to the fundamental question of where China’s Internet is going.
To understand the openness of the Internet platform ecosystem, we first need to establish an observation perspective of the platform ecosystem. At present, the platform does not simply provide a trading market, but an ecosystem that integrates multiple service markets and their complementary utilities and forms complex internal interactive relationships.
Secondly, based on a clear understanding of the formation of the platform ecosystem, we should explore the basic framework and path of ecological opening. Starting from the dual attributes of the platform, “ecological opening” should contain at least two aspects. On the one hand, we need to focus on the abuse of the platform’s basic production factors, especially its centralized control and exclusive exercise of factors such as data and intellectual property rights, and its effect on the cross market transmission of market forces, so as to prevent the closure of the platform ecosystem and damage competition through the locking and banning of factors. On the other hand, the platform needs to focus on self preferential treatment by formulating and implementing rules to suppress and eliminate potential competitive behaviors inside and outside the platform. Formulating fair, open and just platform rules and requiring its implementation and implementation to remain open and transparent should become an important part of “ecological openness”.
As the basic spirit and key core of the Internet, interconnection has once again attracted attention in the public discourse system of the Internet in China. It is the result of the development of the Internet economic form to the platform leading mode, and it is also the endogenous demand for the Internet industry to maintain its true color and continue to develop healthily and orderly.
With the unremitting promotion of the regulatory authorities, China’s Internet platforms have achieved a certain degree of “opening the external chain”. In the future, we need to further promote the complete link opening and data opening, so as to realize the deep opening of the platform ecology and truly promote the low-cost flow of digital economy production elements between platforms, It injects important power into the innovation and development of cross platform and exogenous platform.
(the author is the executive director of the Internet rule of law research center of the University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)
(21st Century Business Herald)
