Abstract

The research on the legislation of network platform governance aims at responding to the top-level system design proposed by the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party，the Third Plenary Session of the Eighteenth Central Committee，the Fourth Plenary Session of the Eighteenth Central Committee，the Fifth Plenary Session of the Eighteenth Central Committee and the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party to strengthen network social management，to enhance network management by law，to improve network social management laws and regulations，to implement the national strategy of prospering with network power，as well as to establish a comprehensive network governance system and to create a clear cyberspace. To implement the spirit of the series of speeches delivered by Comrade Xi Jinping at the first meeting of the Central Cyber Security and Informatization Leading Group in February 2014 which propose to formulate legislative plans，to govern cyberspace and other online social platforms by law. Meanwhile，it also conforms to the propositions of the National Cyberspace Security Strategy which require to govern the internet，to do business on the internet and to surf on the internet in accordance with the law，so that the internet can run healthy on the track of the rule of law. It is expected to provide intellectual resources for the practical responses to many problems in network platform governance legislation.

The research on the legislation of network platform governance always adheres to the basic orientation of our country’s legislative practices，starting from the reality of platform development，governance，and legal system construction，as well as following the general principles of socialist legal construction. There is a law to follow is the basic institutional premise for law enforcement and judicial practice activities. The research on the legislation of network platform governance aims at improving the scientific and democratic nature of legislation and promoting the establishment and formation of a scientific and comprehensive network platform governance legal system. In this way，it can provide sufficient institutional supply for the governance of our country’s network platform，ensure the orderly and healthy operation of all processes and stages of governance activities on the track of the rule of law；then it will further improve the level of legalization and modernization of network platform governance，so as to achieve the goal of “good law and good governance” for network platform governance.

The first chapter is mainly to examine the current situations of the practices of network platform governance legislation in our country. First of all，following the general logic of “network platform-network platform governance-network platform governance legislation”，it clarifies the meaning of network society，network platform，network platform governance and network platform governance legislation. Afterwards，through the overall understanding of the germination，development and transformation stages of legislative practices，it elaborates the current status of our country’s network platform governance legislation. Finally，the basic characteristics and useful experience of our country’s network platform governance legislation practices are summarized.

The second chapter mainly analyzes the problems existing in our country’s network platform governance legislation practices. The main problems include legislative fragmentation，fuzzy scopes of legislative adjustment，lack of open legislative procedures，low legal rank，lack of legislative evaluation systems，etc. The research focuses on the three levels of questions；specifically，what the problem is，which kinds of harm it brings，and how the problem is formed. It further analyzes the specific manifestations，possible consequences，and causes of each problem.

The third chapter mainly explains the appropriate bases for the optimization of network platform governance legislation. The optimization of network platform governance legislation has its justified theoretical basis. The trend of virtualization in cyberspace is sweeping the reality，and the interactions between online and offline，virtual and physical have resulted in a “dualization” of the society. The existing legal system should be adjusted because it cannot meet the needs of practical governance. First of all，theories on legal attributes of cyberspace evolve from “sovereignty” to “global commons” and then to “new sovereignty”；meanwhile，the subjects，objects，and contents of the legal relationship of network platform governance have totally changed，which are the embodiments of the theoretical bases for the optimization of the network platform governance legislation regarding legal principles. Secondly，the incompatibility of the existing governance system paradigms，the optimization of legislation in response to the requirements of the country’s relevant strategic tasks，the realization of network platform governance by law，as well as the improvement of good law and good governance capabilities are the embodiments of the rational theoretical bases for the optimization of network platform governance legislation at the level of system value.

The fourth chapter mainly discusses the ideological guidance in the optimization of our country’s network platform governance legislation. Ideologies are the forerunners of actions. The legislative optimization of network platform governance requires the guidance of scientific and advanced ideologies. It begins with the establishment of guiding ideologies. Through the analysis of the bases for establishment of the guiding ideologies of legislative optimization，it points out that the guiding ideologies must adhere to the leadership of the communist party and the supremacy of the people’s interests，insist on starting from reality，as well as stick to the unification of the legal systems. The second part is to follow the basic principles. It puts forward the four basic principles that must be followed in the optimization of our country’s network platform governance legislation.

The fifth chapter mainly proposes the path to optimize the legislation of network platform governance in our country. Based on the problems of fuzzy adjustment scopes，low rank of legislation，fragmentation of legislation and lack of open procedures in our country’s online platform governance legislation，it clearly proposes suggestions include delimiting the scopes of legislative adjustment，scientifically designing the legislative systems，optimizing the legislative level，and promoting the disclosure and supervision of legislative procedures. Regarding the scope of legislative adjustment，it is clearly delineated as the lowest physical layer，the intermediate technical layer and the highest content layer. Through legislation，the regulation of key information infrastructures of the physical layer of network platform，technical layer of network platform providers，and content layer of network platform content construction are realized. Regarding the designing optimization of the legislative systems and levels，based on the three-tier divisions of the scope of adjustment，the basic starting point is the security protection of the physical layer of network platforms，the promotion of innovation and development of the technology layer of network platform providers，and the content management of the content layer of network platforms；then it’s required to build a coordinated and supporting legal system of network platform governance，which is based on the basic spirit of the Constitution and related regulations，with the physical layer network platform security protection law，the technology layer network platform provider development promotion law，and the content layer network platform content management law as the backbones. Such a kind of legal system is also composed of several network platform governance administrative regulations，local regulations and rules. It suggests to promote the disclosure of legislative procedures and the level of review and supervision，emphasizes the disclosure of the entire processes from legislative proposals to official release and publicity，and continuously broadens public participation channels. It also recommends to learn from the US administrative regulation supervision mechanisms，and to set up the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs （OIRA） which is specifically responsible for the reviewing and coordination of the regulations of network platform governance.

The sixth chapter mainly discusses the institutional assumptions of the evaluation of network platform governance legislation in our country. Based on the lack of legislative evaluation system in the practices of network platform governance，the basic idea of constructing an evaluation system is proposed. It is proposed that legislative evaluation should adhere to five basic principles including the combination of comprehensiveness and characteristics，the combination of objectiveness and subjectivity，the combination of science and simplicity，the combination of practicality and applicability，as well as the combination of measurability and comparability. It is also proposed to design the “necessity，legitimacy，reasonableness，and practicability” of the network platform governance legislative evaluation through goal planning，classification design，scientific setting of key performance indicators （KPI） and other stages. The six first-level indicators of operability，local legislative characteristics，and technicality，as well as their specific indicator contents and evaluation standards，are to be evaluated in accordance with the requirements of evaluation target planning，specific implementation，and effect summary steps.

Keywords：Network Platform Governance；Legislation；Network Society；Rule of Law