The Impact of Digital Platform Rules on the Mental Health of Minors and the Response of Chinese Law: An Analysis Based on Therapeutic Jurisprudence.

Abstract

Adopting Therapeutic Jurisprudence (TJ) as its theoretical framework and employing the methods of literature analysis and normative analysis, this paper conceptualizes the rules of recommendation algorithms, quantitative feedback, open social connectivity, and automated review procedures as structural arrangements that shape the psychological experiences of minors, and examines their potential mental health implications. The analysis suggests that these rules may affect the mental health of minors along four dimensions-autonomous will, self-perception, relational trust, and procedural trust-and that, in operation, these rules are interwoven and mutually reinforcing. However, China's current regulatory model places disproportionate emphasis on content governance and usage management, while the regulation of designated platforms and the Minor Mode likewise face obstacles in implementation, making it hard to respond effectively to the structural shaping of minors' psychological experiences by platform rules. By examining pioneering governance experiences at the international level, this paper compares the normative functions of different institutional instruments in the protection of minors' mental health and the conditions of their application. On this basis, the paper argues that the normative objectives of safeguarding minors' self-determination, maintaining reasonable trust, and realizing procedural justice should guide the construction of a psychologically friendly digital normative environment for minors, and that institutional arrangements covering the entire process of platform use should be established, encompassing psychological impact assessment, proactive identification and default protection, and restorative protection of rights.