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Top1. Introduction
While the development of the Internet provides users with resources and convenience, it also has a negative impact on their psychology. Many scholars have pointed out that there is a close relationship between the use of the Internet and users’ mental health and negative behaviors at home and at work (Caplan, 2002). Use of the Internet can lead to pornographic violence (Davis and Wright, 2019), reduce interpersonal communication skills (Akbulut et al., 2016), exert a negative impact on work and life due to Internet addiction (Stavropoulos, 2016), or negatively impact the user’s psychology because of long-term exposure to inappropriate information (Schäfer, 2019). Therefore, optimizing the Internet usage environment (Human Rights, 2008), controlling and restricting Internet information and specifically addressing different Internet subjects are effective ways of addressing the negative impact of the Internet; these steps have also been advocated by existing institutions (Leung, 2009). In this research, the Internet is divided into the following three subjects, i.e., the social Internet (social network service platforms such as live broadcasts and Weibo), third-party platforms (peer-to-peer (P2P), advertising, takeout, travel, payment platforms, etc.), and websites (news media, games, etc.), and this paper discusses the different versions of the Internet contained in these three subjects.
However, although scholars have made many efforts to study the governance of the dark side of the Internet, there are still many gaps. At present, research on the dark side of the Internet is characterized by a singularity of perspective and the specification of objects. In terms of the singularity of perspective, most scholars advocate addressing negative issues from an institutional perspective, arguing that the lack of institutions is the root cause of the negative impact of the Internet, and they propose that the construction of regulatory systems and related laws must be continuously strengthened (Johannes, 2017). From the perspective of Internet security technology, some scholars emphasize that technological vulnerabilities will bring unknown Internet risks and that improving technological security and risk prevention technologies will prevent more fraud (Truex, 2019). With the rise of artificial intelligence and blockchain technology, the use of new technologies, while providing convenience and trading space, will have more negative effects on users, such as privacy leaks (He et al., 2018). The framework for the application of new technologies must be more complete and avoid loopholes. In addition to the above studies, scholars have advocated training Internet companies from a business ethics perspective, fostering a sense of social responsibility and popularizing cultural knowledge from the perspective of values, and establishing the correct internalization attitude of users (Desmond et al., 2013).
Furthermore, in terms of object singularity, scholars have identified existing Internet subjects and proposed suggestions. For example, specific research has been conducted on social media platforms, P2P platforms (Francis and Martins, 2019), online trading and information publishing platforms (Liu, 2018), and game entertainment platforms (Alessandro and Gabbiadini, 2012). Unfortunately, to systematically address negative issues, governance at a single level or for specific objects is difficult due to the diversity of Internet subjects and the characteristics of users. In particular, due to the mutual constraints and influences between different levels, such as technological changes and widespread application, the application of governance schemes proposed by existing research is usually restricted by the completeness of the institutional system (Herman, 2019). Finally, existing research lacks a systematic consideration of the negative psychology of Internet users and a multilevel governance framework based on the negative psychology caused by the Internet. This dearth of research has led to a failure in managing the negative psychology of the Internet and understanding the dark side of the Internet.