快速发展的互联网使得公民的直接式民主参与成为可能。庞大的网民群体借助信息传播平台实践着民主参与，并有力推动着中国的民主和法治进程。互联网在提供了良好的公共参与平台的同时，却也带来了一些法律上的挑战。一方面，网络环境下的公民参与失范导致了公民参与的非秩序化；另一方面，电子政务发展滞后、政府信息公开力度不够，导致了信息不对称，从而使得公民无法有效参与甚或无法参与。针对这些问题，需要通过法律和其他手段加以规制，促进互联网时代公民参与的健康有序发展。
The rapid development of the Internet has made citizens’ direct democratic participation possible. With the help of information transmission platforms，the huge population of netizens is able to practice democratic participation and forcefully promote the development of democracy and the rule of law in China. The Internet，while providing a good platform of public participation，has also brought about some legal challenges：on the one hand，the anomies in citizens’ participation in the context of the Internet have led to the non-ordering of civic participation；on the other hand，because of the slow development of e-government，the disclosure of government information is inadequate，making citizens’ participation ineffective or impossible. In view of these problems，China should take legal and other regulatory measures to promote the healthy and orderly development of civic participation in the internet era.
