Two netizens maliciously "unboxed human flesh" and illegally obtained and distributed other people's private information. They were convicted and sentenced in accordance with the law. This case was included in the 2026 Supreme People's Court Work Report, sounding a legal alarm for the chaos of "unboxing". Cyberspace is not a place outside the law, and there is no excuse for "opening boxes". This judicial "dark sword" not only demonstrates the firm stance of severely punishing cyber violence, but also allows the whole society to see the clear attitude and determination to control the chaos of "opening boxes".
In recent years, "unboxing" has become a common form of online violence. It starts with illegally obtaining and exposing citizens' personal information, and then superimposes rumors, slander, "human flesh searches" and other behaviors. It spreads online violence to real life and has become a strong social pain point. A malicious "box opening" can ruin a person's life. In a typical case released by the Supreme People's Court, the defendant illegally purchased the personal information of Zhu, a teacher, in order to retaliate against him, maliciously selected the information of more than 20 women whose time and space intersected with him, and fabricated false posts. This behavior not only plunged Zhu's teaching and life into chaos, but also affected his students, causing a school and multiple families to fall into unreasonable trouble. According to data from the Ministry of Public Security, many industries such as express delivery and education have exposed the problem of insiders participating in information leaks. The defense line of personal information protection has been repeatedly breached. Victims not only have to face online abuse and slander, but may also encounter offline nuisance. Their personal safety is directly threatened, seriously undermining social harmony and stability.
Behind “opening the box” is the intertwined result of multiple factors, which also determines that its governance cannot rely on a single method. The anonymity, immediacy and group nature of cyberspace make the "box-opening" behavior low-cost and fast-propagating; from illegal acquisition of information, reselling to "box-opening", there is a clear division of labor in each link, and many insiders are involved, forming a black chain of personal information leakage that has not yet been completely cut off; some websites The monitoring and early warning mechanism of online platforms lags behind, and the identification and processing of information related to "opening boxes" is not timely, and it has even become a carrier of "opening box" information, allowing it to spread rapidly; some netizens have a weak awareness of the rule of law and regard "opening boxes" as a means of "eating melons", following the trend and making offensive remarks, becoming "accomplices" of online violence. These factors make it difficult for victims to obtain evidence and the cost of defending their rights is high, making some criminals unscrupulous.
To crack the "open box" problem, we need to take comprehensive measures to promote the formation of a collaborative and co-governance pattern among judiciary, supervision, platforms and netizens. Judiciary agencies must continue to maintain a high-pressure posture, use typical cases as guidance, unify judgment standards, severely punish illegal and criminal activities related to "opening boxes", and at the same time provide legal aid to victims, reduce the cost of defending their rights, and enable victims to dare and be able to defend their rights. Regulatory authorities should strengthen source governance, pay close attention to key links such as information acquisition, reselling, and use, conduct joint rectifications, and cut off the illegal chain of personal information trading; at the same time, strengthen supervision of express delivery, finance, education and other fields, urge enterprises to fulfill their personal information protection obligations, severely punish units and individuals who leak information in accordance with the law, and prevent personal information leakage from the source.
While consolidating the main responsibilities and guarding the governance gates, online platforms must also improve the technical prevention and control system, use artificial intelligence, big data and other technical means to establish feature libraries and early warning models for information related to "unboxing", accurately identify and quickly handle relevant information; upgrade user privacy protection functions, and provide users with Provide protection options such as information blocking and interception of unknown private messages, set up quick portals for reports involving "box-opening", and respond to netizen complaints in a timely manner; moreover, strengthen account management, and take measures such as blocking and blacklisting accounts that organize and incite "box-opening" in accordance with the law to resolutely block the dissemination channels of "box-opening" information.
A peaceful and clear network is what the people want. Being punished for "opening the box" and included in the Supreme People's Court's work report is an important step in controlling cyber violence, but it is by no means the end. Everyone is likely to become a victim of "unboxing". To respond to the public's urgent demands for personal information security, we must further upgrade technical security, improve the rule of law and supervision, and work together with multiple parties over a long period of time to provide a good "safety lock" for personal privacy security and better block the breeding and spread of online violence.
(The author is an associate professor at China University of Political Science and Law)
