Reasonable Boundaries of the Processing Move of the Real-name Authentication for Social Media Accounts: From the Backend to the Frontend

In accordance with several social platforms’ announcements, China is set to further display the real names of social media accounts from the backend to the frontend for security reasons. This bold move, informed by the experiences of other jurisdictions and international principles, may prompt a range of questions and prospects to the current legal framework. The public is likely to be concerned about the potential leakage of personal information, as well as the technical absurdity in practice. Thus it places higher demands on legislation and regulation, and requires more comprehensive consideration by the authorities to establish reasonable boundaries, in which way to determine an appropriate balance between conflicting rights.