Fri. Nov 22nd, 2024
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Chinese children and teens will be cut off from accessing the internet at night and have their smartphone use curbed under new rules aimed at fighting internet addiction.

Under the restrictions unveiled on Wednesday following a public consultation, anyone under the age of 18 will be cut off from accessing the internet on a device from 10pm to 6am.

A tiered system for managing smartphone usage time will also be imposed when the restrictions come into force on September 2.

There will be a maximum of 40 minutes of usage a day for those under the age of eight, to two hours for 16 and 17-year-olds.

The new rules — proposed by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) — are some of the most stringent in the world.

Parents will be able to bypass them if they wish, however.

The CAC said the rules would “improve the positive role of the internet, create a favourable network environment, prevent and intervene in minors’ internet addiction problems, and guide minors to form good internet use habits”.

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