在網絡空間,網絡中介因為技術和平臺等優勢形成了與公權力相對的私權力,網絡中介的私權力來源于用戶條款。而用戶條款的制定和執行受到法律、政府、用戶及商業利益的驅動。通過用戶條款,法律這種公共性質的、抽象的"社會契約"部分被私人性質的、具體的"私人契約"所代替,網絡治理與個體權利實現都要依賴于網絡中介。網絡中介權力的正當性來源于合同法規則,使得其權力相對于法律在網絡空間更加凸顯,更為直接,失去了傳統意義上的社會協商空間。雖然合同法、競爭法、企業社會責任、用戶集體行動對網絡中介私權力有一定限制,但這些機制本身也有局限。在網絡治理和用戶權利實現上,已經形成了一種復雜網絡。解決上述問題,傳播法理論研究和具體實踐應從以規范為核心轉向對規范和行為的綜合分析。

In cyberspace, internet intermediaries have formed private power relative to public power due to their advantages in technology and platform. Their private power comes from terms of use(service) directly. User terms’ drafting and enforcement are driven by the law, the government, the user, and commercial interests.Through terms of use, the public and abstract social contract is replaced by the private and specific contract.Internet governance and the realization of user rights depend on internet intermediaries. The legitimacy of internet intermediaries’ power comes from the rules of contract law, making their power more prominent and more direct in cyberspace without traditional spaces for social consultation, in contrast to the process of law making. Although contract law, competition law, corporate social responsibility, and the collective action of users have certain restrictions on the private power of internet intermediaries, these mechanisms are also limited. Complex network is generated from internet governance and the realization of user rights. To solve the problems above, theoretical research and practice of communication law should shift from analysis of norms alone to a comprehensive analysis of norms and behaviors.