There was news last week about Internet cafes. The Ministry of Culture raised the threshold for Internet cafe chain applications and individual Internet cafes will withdraw. The Ministry of Culture issued a notice saying that applying for a national Internet cafe chain enterprise should meet the following conditions: "a registered capital of not less than 50 million yuan, and the number of wholly-owned or controlled directly-operated stores is not less than 30." This threshold is lower than the application conditions for Internet cafes in 2003. This policy will promote the increasingly centralized development of Internet cafes, and individual Internet cafes that used to dominate the market will withdraw from the market. The threshold of the new standard has been raised or lowered. For example, the number of wholly-owned or controlled directly-operated stores of chain Internet cafe enterprises in the administrative region has been reduced from no less than 10 in 2003 to 5, and the threshold has been lowered; For national or cross-regional chain Internet cafes, the number of wholly-owned or controlled directly-operated stores is required to increase from no less than 20 stipulated in 2003 to 30, and the threshold has been raised.
The new standards show that while the Ministry of Culture is raising the threshold for chain Internet cafes across the country, it will also help speed up the process of incorporating a large number of individual Internet cafes into chain operations. Previously, these individual Internet cafes were criticized for their uneven management levels and were even called "black Internet cafes." In fact, Internet cafes are now becoming more and more centralized, and individual Internet cafes that used to dominate the market are slowly withdrawing from the market. Various measures are being introduced across the country to restrict the development of Internet cafes. For example, Liaoning prohibits the registration of new independent Internet cafes, and Guangdong no longer licenses single-room Internet cafes. Another news today: Members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference: Social Internet cafes and government office public Internet cafes will be closed. As the two sessions of the National People’s Congress are about to begin, Yan Qi, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, made a shocking statement: Close all social Internet cafes and make public Internet cafes in government offices. Regarding this suggestion, Yan Qi will submit relevant proposals during the National Two Sessions this year. "Various social problems derived from Internet cafes have become stubborn social diseases. To deal with these stubborn diseases, strong medicines should be administered." Various phenomena indicate that the development of Internet cafes, especially the development of independent Internet cafes, has now come to an end, or has been replaced by chain Internet cafes. Corporate mergers will either be stifled by new regulations.
The current situation of Internet cafes reminds me of the current situation of personal websites. Although the two are in different industries, they are very different. But they are all closely related to the Internet, and the current prospects are somewhat similar. Internet cafes and personal websites have gradually developed and grown with the continuous popularity and development of the Internet. They all target netizens and rely on netizens to make profits. In the process of development, many problems have arisen, causing some social conflicts. For example, the proliferation of Internet cafes and poor management have caused Internet addiction problems, and the problem of Internet cafes spreading pornographic and harmful illegal information. Internet cafes harm the physical and mental health development of young people. The same is true for personal websites. The proliferation of online pornography and illegal and harmful information is also condemned by society. Both have caused criticism from society and the media due to management and institutional problems. Now, precisely because of the deepening of these problems, relevant departments are introducing a series of new measures and regulations to rectify them. Like the new regulations for Internet cafes mentioned above, as well as a series of online rectifications that have continued since last year. Rectification is a good thing, as it can standardize the market, purify the development environment, and promote transformation and upgrading. Then, the improvement of Internet cafes and personal websites also has certain disadvantages. That is, the development of small and medium-sized independent Internet cafes and small and medium-sized personal websites is likely to be seriously affected, and even lead to extinction. It is true that the problem lies in this part, but completely stifling its development will have a negative impact on the entire industry and even the entire Internet.
Both the development of Internet cafes and the development of the Internet are inseparable from the role of small and medium-sized individuals. Although they are small and have many irregularities, they contain huge potential for innovation and have the spirit to fight tenaciously and become the giant waves that shake those "aircraft carriers". Only by regulating the market while protecting small and medium-sized individuals can we promote a virtuous cycle in the industry and eliminate monopoly. I remember that there were some individual webmasters who believed that network regulation had caused hardships for individual webmasters, but it had helped big websites like Webmaster.com admin5.com and Chinaz. In fact, they are not. These websites are also grassroots, and they are representatives of grassroots webmasters. Without grassroots webmasters, there would be no development today. Similarly, future development will also rely on the group of individual webmasters. Only by uniting as one and persevering can we see The sun the day after tomorrow. (Text/Yangyang)