President, the Internet is flooded with information, and the media sometimes use pornographic images or videos to attract readers’ attention. Some popular video-sharing platforms, for various reasons, may be too lax in regulating the boundaries of decency for pornographic videos, making it extremely easy for young people to be exposed to such videos on the Internet. Young people are at a critical stage in the formation of their values. They are full of curiosity but lack sufficient judgment and self-control. They are prone to indulging in pornographic videos, which can affect their physical and mental health and may lead to distorted values about sex and even the commission of sexual offences. In view of this, it is particularly important to strengthen Internet content regulation and education. I would like to thank Ms Maggie CHAN for proposing today’s motion and Mr Kenneth LEUNG for proposing the amendment so that we can discuss this issue.
At present, in addition to traditional printed matters such as newspapers and magazines, online videos and information are also regulated under the Control of Obscene and Indecent Articles Ordinance. The Obscene Articles Tribunal (“the Tribunal”), as a specialized regulatory and censorship body, is responsible for classifying matters and articles and determining their nature. However, the Tribunal’s classification results have repeatedly caused social controversy and have been accused of failing to follow classification guidelines. I suggest that the Tribunal should play a stringent gatekeeping role to prevent the subjective standards of individual adjudicators from deviating from public moral standards. In addition, as adjudicators are self-nominated and may only participate in the classification exercise once over a long period of time on a random basis, there is of course the possibility that they may forget the classification standards. In order to ensure consistent standards, I suggest that adjudicators should be required to receive regular online training on classification to minimize differences between adjudicators in classifying articles, thereby effectively curbing the flood of obscene and indecent articles and reducing the chances of young people and children being exposed to objectionable materials.
If an article is classified as a Class III article by the Tribunal, the case will be referred to the Hong Kong Police Force (“HKPF”) for follow-up action, including removal or blocking of the video in question to ensure that it cannot be played in Hong Kong. For individual cases involving overseas web pages that require follow-up action from overseas organizations, HKPF or the Office for Film, Newspaper and Article Administration (“OFNAA”) may refer the case to the overseas law enforcement agencies or overseas website operators and request them to take action, such as adding warning notices or removing the relevant content. However, in practice, many platforms are not headquartered in Hong Kong, and given the lax regulation, it would be much more difficult to enforce the law once an overseas website is involved, so the number of prosecutions has been relatively low. I suggest that key performance indicators should be formulated to require HKPF and OFNAA to constantly monitor the handling process of video-sharing platforms, so as to ensure that the platforms take down the problematic content within the specified time frame.
At the same time, schools should also take on the role of educating and guiding young people. From a health perspective, they should guide young people to develop correct concepts of sex education, increase their awareness of self-protection and avoid premature or inappropriate exposure to pornographic content. In contrast to other regions, our unique traditional cultural background and ideological perspectives mean that our sex education is often closely intertwined with morality and ethics, media and information literacy, personal values, etc., covering a more holistic range of aspects. In addition to correct knowledge about sex, it is more necessary for schools to teach students important lessons such as how to properly deal with gender relationship, how to respect others and how to protect themselves. Parents should also make use of the “restriction mode” of the platforms to help young people filter inappropriate content to ensure that they can grow up in a healthy online environment.
Thank you, President.