SAN FRANCISCO, June 12 (Xinhua) -- A group of law experts and policy regulators from China's Peking University and U.S. Stanford University on Tuesday held broad discussions on the hottest issues on the Internet, including content regulation and privacy concerns arising from data aggregation by Internet firms.

The Eighth Annual Stanford-Peking University Internet Law and Policy Conference, which was sponsored by Stanford Law School, Peking University, and Tencent, China's largest Internet company, brought together law professors, scholars and industry leaders from the two countries to exchange views on challenges for social media and big tech companies such as Facebook and Google.

Chinese experts shared with their U.S. counterparts China's experience in Internet management, policies, strategies and unique Internet culture.

Three panels covered a wide range of issues in connection with Internet firms, with a focus on content regulation in the United States and China, data aggregation, privacy and competitive concerns that data aggregation raises, as well as more mainstream competitive concerns in the unique context of Internet platforms.

The panel speakers addressed growing concerns about users' privacy as more online platforms and businesses are increasingly collecting large amounts of data about Internet users and advertisers, including details of how users behave on the site.

Xue Jun, a law professor and vice dean of Peking University School of Law, said it was natural that the scholars of China and the United States had different views and perspectives on Internet governance due to their different cultures and backgrounds.

"Today's event is very important and necessary because the scholars from both countries can minimize their differences and achieve more consensus via face-to-face communication," he said.

He noted that Peking University and Stanford University have a significant influence on their respective countries, and scholars from both countries should enjoy more such exchanges and introduce system-related differences to their peers so that they can boost mutual understanding.

"In the long run, China and the U.S. should maintain a close relationship of cooperation, and they should not go down the path of conflict or confrontation," Xue said.

Michael Klausner, a law professor at Stanford Law School, said that having people know each other is important.

"I think having everyone understand each other is important. And I think having people hear the ideas of other people is important," he said.

The Stanford professor said that the annual conference, which has been held for the eighth time since it was started in 2012, has achieved its goal of maintaining relationships, friendships and understanding between the two sides.

The annual event, which rotates between China and the United States, normally touches upon the most pressing issues and challenges of that year.