China releases new rules for algorithms

China's cyberspace watchdog released a set of draft regulations on Friday aimed at restricting tech companies' usage of algorithmic recommendations.

With the new rules, the Cyberspace Administration of China is clearly responding to mounting concerns among Chinese consumers about privacy and algorithmic-mediated gig work. But it also details the central internet censor's mandate to control public opinion.

"This policy marks the moment that China's tech regulation is not simply keeping pace with data regulations in the EU, but has gone beyond them," Kendra Schaefer, a data and tech expert at Trivium China, wrote on Twitter.

The drafted rules require internet companies to allow users to block algorithmically curated information or personalized ads. And the CAC, following last Friday's passage of China's Personal Information Protection Law, explicitly bans much-hated "big data ripoffs" (大数据杀熟) — companies setting differentiated prices and other treatments based on troves of consumer data they collect. Such discriminatory automated decision-making can also trigger antitrust investigations.

The CAC also asks internet companies to protect delivery workers and drivers on car-hailing platforms by setting up and fine-tuning algorithms related to order dispatch, compensation structure, payments, work time and rewards. This is in direct response to the nationwide outcry over the plight of food delivery workers that started last summer.

One specific provision aims to control algorithmic recommendations that target minors. Companies are not allowed to send any content to underage users that may harm their mental and physical health, nor may they make recommendations that "induce internet addiction among minors."

But the drafted rules also evince CAC's strong desire to control public opinion and moderate social media content. Service providers are asked to "uphold mainstream value orientations" and optimize algorithmically-based recommendation mechanisms to "disseminate positive energy." Tech companies are blocked from "entering illegal or undesirable keywords as user interests or as user tags" and then "push information content accordingly," nor may companies "set discriminatory or biased user labels." And they are also required to allow autonomous user choices and build mechanisms that allow humans to manually curate hot topics, popular search terms, trending topic charts and pop-up windows to "vigorously present information content that conforms to mainstream value orientations."

The CAC drafted the new rules based on existing data laws and regulations, old and new, that emphasize the protection of cybersecurity as well as personal information, including the Cybersecurity Law, the Data Security law and the Personal Information Protection Law. The internet regulator is seeking public consultation and feedback until Sept. 26.