Cyberspace not no-man's-land

Recently Douyin, a short video platform, and search engine Sogou published an advertisement about “The joke of Qiu Shaoyun being immolated.” Following public ourtage, the ad was suspended for insulting the memory of the hero who gave up his life in serving his country.

Internet portals can no longer justify their fondness for vulgar information on the excuse of algorithms.

By all accounts, the big data-based algorithm, being more efficient, is taking over editorship of content. Excuses like “technology is neutral” or “ours is just a technology company” are no longer plausible.

As Kenneth Rogoff observes in a recent commentary (“Dominance of tech giants is a big problem,” July 5, Shanghai Daily), “Unless big techs are held to standards that are applied to print, radio and television, in-depth reporting and fact-checking will remain dying arts.”