Research on Improving the Duty of Care of Short Video Platforms

Under the Background of Algorithm Recommendation: Focus

on Chinese Law

Gefei Wang

School of Humanities and Law, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, China

Keywords: Algorithm Recommendation, Duty of Attention Obligation, Copyright Infringement, Red Flag Principle, Safe

Harbor Principle.

Abstract: Rapid advancements in internet and algorithmic technologies have accelerated digital work dissemination on

short video platforms. However, algorithmic recommendations, appearing neutral, pose copyright infringe-

ment risks and legal challenges. This paper explores the expansion of copyright duty of care on these platforms,

assessing necessity and measures. It clarifies notice and review obligations, addressing algorithmic impacts

on traditional rules and "should-have-known" determinations. Adhering to proportionality, it balances inter-

ests to foster healthy development and a robust copyright framework.

1 INTRODUCTION

With the rapid development of Internet technology,

especially the wide application of big data and

artificial intelligence technology, human society has

ushered in the era of unprecedented information

explosion. The user faces the dilemma of

"information overload," which makes it difficult to

screen information effectively (Zhou, 2023). In order

to solve this problem, the algorithm recommendation

technology emerges as the times require. By

analyzing users' habits and hobbies, it can accurately

push personalized content for users, greatly

improving user experience and information

acquisition efficiency. But it also accelerates and

deepens the infringement degree of the platform to

the relevant works. On the one hand, the algorithm

takes the actions of cutting, carrying and quick

reading to others' works when pushing accurately

(Zhang and Wang, 2022). In addition, within the

scope of copyright law protection, the content

covered by the algorithm recommendation

technology is wide, involving literary works, pictures,

music, video and other types of works, as well as

materials that infringe the copyright of others

uploaded by the user, which aggravates the scope of

infringement of the algorithm push. On the other

hand, the precision push of the algorithm accelerates

the propagation speed of the works and expands the

scope of infringement and the consequences of

damage. However, the increasing impact of the

algorithm push tort is accompanied by the high profits

of the platform. The recommendation technology of

the algorithm improves the viscous users and the

traffic of the platform through the accurate push and

the customer psychology, and the platform has

obtained higher economic benefits.

Under the recommendation of the algorithm, the

traditional red flag principle or the safe harbor

principle has been unable to achieve a good balance

of interests. “The rules of safe harbor "has become the

protection umbrella of short video platform. Because

of its harsh exemption conditions, it is very easy to be

abused by the platform, and the platform only

undertakes the obligation of notification and

cancellation. “Red flag principle "on" obvious

infringement "also lack of specific provisions, let

many people desperate to risk. Nowadays, short video

platform is an important link and main carrier of

information dissemination, and the connotation and

boundary of its duty of attention have changed

remarkably. Therefore, it is a necessary task to further

study the responsibility of network platform.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how to

improve the attention obligation of short video

platform under the background of algorithm

recommendation. First of all, based on the traditional

legal principles and its failure under the new

algorithm technology, this paper discusses the current

reasons, combined with judicial cases and existing

166

Wang, G.

Research on Improving the Duty of Care of Short Video Platforms Under the Background of Algorithm Recommendation: Focus on Chinese Law.

DOI: 10.5220/0013975300004912

Paper published under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Innovative Education and Social Development (IESD 2025), pages 166-172

ISBN: 978-989-758-779-5

research results, analyzes the challenges and

dilemmas of traditional attention obligations in the

algorithm push era. Secondly, the paper analyzes the

necessity and possibility of expanding the duty of

attention of short video platform. At last, we try to

construct a comprehensive system of attention

obligation of short video platform from three stages:

Before, during and after, and discuss the expansion

limit of attention obligation in each stage (Zhang,

2022).

The research of this paper has profound and

extensive theoretical and practical significance. In

theory, the purpose of this study is to enrich the

development of algorithm recommendation

technology, and to provide a new perspective and

method for defining the attention obligation of short

video platform. In practice, the research results can

provide reliable reference and guidance for judicial

practice, help the court to more accurately define the

responsibility of the platform when dealing with new

platform to strengthen the internal management,

improve the copyright protection level, optimize the

network environment and promote the prosperity and

development of network ecology.

2 EFFECT OF ALGORITHM

RECOMMENDATION

MECHANISM ON PLATFORM

ATTENTION OBLIGATION

2.1 General Provisions on Duty of Care

for Traditional Platforms

Under the traditional network environment, the duty

of attention of network service providers is mainly

defined by the "red flag principle" and the "safe

harbor principle."

The rules of safe harbor occupy the core position

in the civil network tort, and it sets a clear

responsibility limit and action framework for the

network platform. When copyright infringement

occurs, the right holder can immediately notify the

network platform to take measures such as removing

the infringement content or disconnecting the link.

Upon receipt of the notification, the network platform

shall promptly convey the notification to the infringer

and take actions to prevent the infringement from

spreading. This provides a security defense barrier for

network service providers, especially those who only

provide space services and do not directly participate

in content production. As long as the network service

provider does not know the infringement content, or

can respond quickly after receiving the notice, it can

be exempted from the infringement liability.

However, as an important supplement to the rules

of the safe harbor, the red flag rules put forward more

stringent requirements for the network platform. It

requires the network platform to take active measures

against obvious infringement even if it has not

received the right holder's notice when providing the

work storage or search or association service. If the

network platform knowingly or should knowingly

have obvious tort but deliberately neglects, it will no

longer enjoy the protection of safe harbor, and shall

bear legal responsibility (Xie, 2022) .This rule

ensures that while the network platform enjoys

protection, it is also required to perform supervision

and management duties to prevent infringement.

In China's legal system, the red flag rules and the

rules of the safe harbor are mainly embodied in the

Civil Code of the People's Republic of China and the

Regulations on the Protection of the Right of

Information Network Communication. Article 1,195

of the Civil Code specifies the right of the obligee to

notify and the measures to be taken by the network

service provider, requiring the network service

provider to take necessary measures based on the

preliminary evidence and the type of service after

receiving the notification, otherwise, it is necessary to

bear joint and several liabilities with the network user

for the extended damage. At the same time, if the

network service provider knows or ought to know that

the network user infringes the civil rights and

interests of others by using its services and fails to

take necessary measures, it shall also bear joint and

several liabilities.

The Regulation on the Protection of the Right of

Information Network Communication further details

the application of the rules of safe harbor and red flag.

It sets out the procedure for the obligee to submit a

written notice to the network service provider, as well

as the exemption conditions and joint tort liability of

the network service provider under certain

circumstances. These regulations not only strengthen

the sense of responsibility of network service

providers, but also ensure the effective protection of

the legitimate rights and interests of the right holders.

2.2 The Algorithm Recommendation

Mechanism Affects the Copyright

Infringement

Firstly, the algorithm recommendation mechanism

expands the scope of infringing works, which causes

Research on Improving the Duty of Care of Short Video Platforms Under the Background of Algorithm Recommendation: Focus on

Chinese Law

167

the infringement to the copyright owner and the

works themselves. Taking the case of "Yanxi

Strategy" as an example, Beijing Aiqiyi Technology

Co., Ltd. sued Beijing Byte Jump Technology Co.,

Ltd., accusing it of pushing a large number of video

clips of "Yanxi Strategy" suspected of infringement

through the algorithm recommendation technology of

the dithering platform, which significantly expanded

the audience of the infringing works and aggravated

the harm degree of the infringing act. It can be seen

that the short video platform relies on the algorithm

technology to make a lot of money, at the same time,

it lacks the necessary responsibility, and the vested

interests and burdens are obviously unbalanced.

Some scholars point out that although the algorithm

recommendation technology improves the user

experience, it may also become the "accelerator" of

infringing works, and become the "accomplice" of

infringing acts (Mei and Hou, 2022).

Secondly, the technical means of the algorithm

recommendation mechanism itself is very easy to

cause infringement. Cutting, carrying, quick-reading

and other technical means involve the adaptation or

re-creation of the original work, if not approved by

the original author, it may constitute infringement,

and more confusing. In the case of "Yanxi

Solicitation," the infringing video on the dithering

platform may be processed and disseminated through

these technical means, which significantly increases

the risk of infringing.

Thirdly, there are many kinds of infringement

works under the algorithm recommendation

mechanism. The occurrence of tort is not only limited

to film and television works, but also includes literary

works, pictures, music and video. These works are

recommended under the promotion of the algorithm

recommendation mechanism. Among them, there are

many materials that infringe the copyright of others.

The widespread dissemination of the infringing

works severely hits the creative enthusiasm of the

creators, greatly damages the interests of the creators,

and thus destroys the healthy development of the

intellectual property market.

Finally, the cost burden of the platform attention

obligation and the obtained benefits are seriously

unbalanced under the algorithm recommendation

mechanism. In the short-term video ecology, the

nature of the publisher's identity has changed from a

non-profit individual user to a profit collective

organization. As an important carrier of the product

of intellectual property rights, the role and

responsibility of the network platform should be

adjusted accordingly. Under the background of

prominent economic value of short video, the

platform that does not need to undertake the

obligation of active content review should take the

initiative to adapt to the current situation of

development and undertake a higher duty of attention

so as to manage the publication of works uniformly.

The platform should protect creator autonomy,

stimulate creative vitality, and strengthen the

monitoring and crackdown on infringement to

safeguard the fairness and justice of intellectual

property market. The court finally held that the byte

jumping company constituted a helping tort. This

view represents that the judicial circles' position on

the application of traditional principles is being

adjusted.

2.3 Traditional Platform Attention

Obligation Rules Fail Towards the

Algorithm Recommendation

Mechanism

In the current copyright protection field, the copyright

holders are facing a series of unprecedented complex

challenges, and the fuzzy application of traditional

principles to this serious situation is compounded.

Taking CAI Jiming and Baidu Company's reputation

dispute case as an example, this problem was

profoundly revealed. CAI Jiming, as a member of the

CPPCC Committee, aroused wide attention after

issuing the holiday reform proposal, and then the

network users set up the "CAI Jiming Bar" in the

Baidu post bar for the purpose of abuse and slander,

released a large number of insults and defamatory

content, and disclosed its personal sensitive

information. CAI Jiming repeatedly asked Baidu to

delete the infringement information, but Baidu failed

to take effective measures in time. During the trial of

the case, the court of first instance held that Baidu had

fulfilled its obligations and did not constitute

infringement; The court of second instance held that

Baidu Company should bear the corresponding tort

liability. This case fully shows the ambiguity and

uncertainty of the "know or ought to know" standard

under the traditional rules, which brings great

difficulty to the trial of cases. The network platform

often takes this as a shield, adopts the attitude of

negative coping, and neglects the active monitoring

and prevention of tort.

When setting the responsibility of network

platform, the traditional principle tends to put the

network platform in a relatively loose responsibility

framework. In particular, once a network platform is

notified by the copyright owner, it can be exempted

in most cases by simply removing or shielding. This

method greatly blurs the tort duty of attention of the

IESD 2025 - International Conference on Innovative Education and Social Development

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network platform, provides a more loose living

environment for tort works, thus intensifies the

spreading speed and scope of tort works. And, the

responsibility awareness of the network platform in

the aspect of copyright protection becomes thin.

Many network platforms often take this as a shield

and take a negative attitude towards copyright

protection, neglecting the active monitoring and

prevention of infringement. This negative attitude

leads to the tort in the cyber space, the copyright

holder's legitimate rights and interests can not be

timely and effective protection. For example, some

network platforms, after receiving complaints from

measures, but often only target specific infringement

links or content, without comprehensively cleaning

up and punishing the infringement. The practice of

"cure the standard without cure the root" makes the

infringement appear repeatedly on the network

platform, and the rights and interests of the

copyrighter continue to be infringed.

Further, the evasion of network platform's

responsibility in copyright protection is also reflected

in its use of technology neutrality as a defense. In

today's highly developed algorithm recommendation

technology, the network platform, as the control and

application of technology, is fully equipped with

corresponding monitoring ability to effectively

contain the occurrence of tort. However, the network

platform is often based on technology neutrality,

claiming that it can not know the occurrence of the

infringement, thus trying to avoid the responsibility.

This approach is obviously inconsistent with the

actual application of the algorithm recommendation

technology. In fact, the algorithm recommendation

technology not only makes the infringing content

spread quickly, but also provides the network

platform with the possibility of accurate monitoring

and management of the content. The network

platform can identify and filter the content of

infringement through technical means, so as to

effectively prevent the spread of infringement. The

existing "know or ought to know" responsibility

identification standard is too general and lack of

operability, so that the network platform can easily

avoid the responsibility on the ground of ignorance.

In practice, it is difficult for copyright holders to

prove that the network platform "knows or should

know" the existence of infringement, while the

network platform often defends on the ground of

ignorance. This kind of derogatory situation not only

makes the legitimate rights and interests of

copyrighters unable to be protected timely and

effectively, but also damages the authority and

credibility of copyright protection system.

In addition, the benefits obtained by the network

platform due to the algorithm recommendation

technology are seriously mismatched with its duty of

care. The network platform can accurately push the

content that users are interested in through the

algorithm recommendation technology, thus

obtaining the huge commercial benefits. However,

the duty of care in copyright protection of network

platform has not been improved correspondingly.

This imbalance of interests and obligations not only

damages the legitimate rights and interests of

copyrighters, but also undermines the fairness and

validity of copyright protection system. While

enjoying the dividend brought by the algorithm

recommendation technology, the network platform

should also bear the corresponding copyright

protection responsibility. However, the existing laws,

regulations and institutional design have not made

clear and concrete stipulations on the responsibility of

the network platform, which makes the network

platform have obvious lack of responsibility on the

3 SUGGESTIONS ON

ATTENTION OBLIGATION OF

RECONFIGURATION

PLATFORM IN ALGORITHM

RECOMMENDATION ERA

3.1 Judgment Standard of Detailed and

Expanded Duty of Care

Under the background of increasing popularity of

algorithm recommendation technology, it is very

important to refine and appropriately expand the

judgment standard of attention obligation of network

service providers. Firstly, the application of red flag

rules needs to be further refined. As mentioned above,

the Red Flag Rule requires that the Internet Service

Provider, when it knows or should know that the

infringement exists, immediately take the necessary

measures to prevent the continuation of the

infringement to minimize the negative impact. In the

era of algorithm recommendation, the application of

this rule should pay more attention to the evaluation

of network platform management information

capability, including whether it has sufficient

technical means to identify infringement content, and

whether it has sufficient understanding of the obvious

Research on Improving the Duty of Care of Short Video Platforms Under the Background of Algorithm Recommendation: Focus on

Chinese Law

169

degree of infringement information. At the same time,

the popularity of the works is also an important basis

for judging whether the platform should know the fact

of infringement. In addition, whether the platform

actively selects, edits and recommends the content

should also be taken into consideration, so as to

comprehensively assess whether the platform should

assume a higher duty of care.

Secondly, the operation process of havens rules

should be clearer. The rules of safe harbor provide

certain space for the network service platform to be

exempted from liability, but the premise is that the

platform needs to take timely and effective measures

after receiving the infringement notice. Therefore, the

content requirements of the infringement notice

should be specified, including the processing time,

sending method, included information elements, etc.

of the notice to ensure that the platform can accurately

understand and handle the infringement notice. At the

same time, the transfer obligation of the platform after

receiving the notice should also be defined, including

the object of transfer, time limit, etc. (Li and Guo,

2022). In addition, legal liability for wrongful or

negligent notification should be provided to balance

the interests of the right holder, the network service

provider and the public.

3.2 Duty of Care Times Distinguish

Between Network Service Providers

Different types of network service providers should

bear different attention obligations due to different

business models and technical characteristics. For

platforms that provide content storage and publishing

services, such as short video platforms, due to their

algorithm recommendation technology to precisely

match users and advertisements and obtain economic

benefits, they should assume a higher duty of care.

This kind of platform should establish a perfect

content review and filtering mechanism, and use

technical means to timely discover and prevent the

dissemination of infringing content. At the same time,

the platform should also strengthen the audit and

management of the content uploaded by users to

ensure the legality and compliance of the content

(Zhou and Hao, 2022).

In contrast, network service providers that provide

basic communication and technical services are not

directly involved in uploading or disseminating

content, and the user information contacted is

extensive and partially private. Thus, such service

providers should not be subject to excessive duty of

care. Its primary responsibility should focus on the

protection of user privacy and freedom of

communication to ensure the security and

confidentiality of user information.

Web service providers providing search or link

services should not be compelled to adopt filtering

techniques or establish filtering mechanisms because

they are not the producers or principals of third-party

website content and face both technical and

commercial cost challenges. However, such service

providers should, within their capabilities, take the

necessary measures to prevent the dissemination of

infringing content. For example, through the

establishment of infringement content reporting

mechanism, timely response and handling users'

reports and complaints to achieve the purpose of

blocking infringement.

3.3 Introduction of Advanced Testing

Means and Linkage Review

Mechanism

With the progress and development of science and

technology, advanced detection methods such as

blockchain can be introduced to combat piracy of

short video. Among them, blockchain technology has

the characteristics of decentralization and tampering,

which can ensure the authenticity and integrity of

data. The platform should actively use the blockchain

technology to establish a copyright protection

mechanism to realize the quick identification and

attack of infringement (Dong and Zheng, 2014). At

the same time, the blockchain technology can also

reduce the operation cost of the platform and improve

the accuracy and efficiency of the infringement

detection.

In addition to introducing advanced detection

methods, the linkage review mechanism of account

and content shall also be established. This mechanism

can prevent repeated infringement by establishing a

comparison database of infringement content. When

it is detected that the recommended content is likely

to be infringed, the platform shall suspend the

recommendation of the algorithm and transfer to the

post-audit section. At the same time, the removed

infringing content is put into the database for machine

learning, and the copyright comparison library is

perfected to reduce the risk of repeated infringement.

The implementation of this mechanism will help

improve the copyright protection capability and

efficiency of the platform.

3.4 Recognition Standard of Lifting

Platform Attention Obligation

In view of the booming development of the short-

IESD 2025 - International Conference on Innovative Education and Social Development

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term video industry and the fact that the benefits and

responsibilities of the platform do not match, the

recognition standard of the duty of attention of the

platform should be properly improved. This not only

covers the post-measures such as quick response and

link deletion after infringement, but also involves the

pre-responsibilities such as original verification

before short video uploading and illegal supervision

in operation. By improving the recognition standard,

the platform can be promoted to perform strict duty

of attention in all links of the short video industry

chain, forming a clear and complete chain of

responsibility (Yi, 2021). For example, before

uploading short videos, the platform should

strengthen the review and management of the content

uploaded by users to ensure the originality and

legitimacy of the content; In the operation process,

the platform shall establish a perfect copyright

protection mechanism and infringement complaint

handling mechanism, and timely respond to and

handle users' complaints and reports. The

implementation of these measures will help to

promote the healthy development of the industry and

achieve the purpose of protecting the legitimate rights

and interests of users (Honor, 2005).

4 CONCLUSION

With the rapid change of algorithm recommendation

technology, the role of network platform in

information transmission becomes more and more

critical, and the connotation and boundary of its duty

of attention change deeply. This paper focuses on the

the background of recommendation algorithm. It is

pointed out that, although the algorithm

recommendation technology greatly promotes the

user experience and information acquisition

efficiency, its "pseudo-neutrality" feature is often

used as a tool to avoid liability, resulting in the spread

of infringement and the aggravation of harm.

Obviously, the traditional copyright duty of care

system has been unable to adapt to this new algorithm

era, the system of perfection and reconstruction is

imperative.

In order to meet this challenge, this paper puts

forward the criterion of detailing and expanding the

attention obligation of network service providers.

Specifically, it is necessary to clarify the specific

application situation of red flag rules and safe harbor

principles in the algorithm recommendation era, so as

to strengthen the responsibility determination of the

platform and effectively contain the tort. At the same

time, for different types of network service providers,

the differentiated duty of care should be implemented

to ensure that the responsibility matches the income

and avoid the one-size-fits-all phenomenon of

responsibility setting. In addition, by introducing

advanced detection means and linkage review

mechanism, the copyright protection ability of the

platform is constantly improved to provide strong

support for combating piracy of short videos and

other infringements. The joint review mechanism of

account and content can effectively prevent repeated

infringement and further reduce user's infringement

risk.

However, the practice of perfecting the duty of

attention of the platform is not an open road, and the

implementation and supervision still face many

challenges. How to encourage the innovation and

development of the platform while effectively

curbing the occurrence of infringement in order to

maintain the good environment of the copyright

market has become an urgent problem to be solved.

Therefore, the legal theory circle, the judicial practice

circle and the network platform practitioners should

work hand in hand to explore and balance the interests

of all parties, strengthen the duty of attention of the

network platform, and jointly contribute wisdom and

strength to build a fair, just and healthy network

ecological environment and the prosperity and

development of the intellectual property market. This

process is full of challenges, but only in this way can

we ensure the copyright ecological stability of the

network platform and realize the real sustainable

development.

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