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.
Key points:
- Under 18s will be cut off from mobile internet use from 10pm to 6am
- The new rules are some of the most stringent in the world
- Parents will be able to bypass the restrictions if they wish
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”.
The measures would build upon existing efforts to strengthen the online protection of minors, it added, including by “enriching age-appropriate content” and reducing “the influence of bad information”.
Beijing authorities have pursued expansive regulation of the domestic tech sector in recent years, due in part to concerns over the risk posed to young people by digital technology.
In 2021, China capped the amount of gaming time for children with the stated aim of fighting addiction, and froze approvals of new games for nine months, hammering the bottom lines of many companies including sector titan Tencent.
And Wednesday’s decision suggests Beijing’s regulatory clampdown on domestic tech giants continues.
Investors aren’t impressed
Stocks of many leading Chinese internet firms fell on Wednesday following the CAC’s announcement, with Tencent’s Hong Kong-listed shares down 3 per cent.
Web search, AI and online services giant Baidu also saw its shares fall 3.75 per cent during trading in Hong Kong.
Xia Hailong, a lawyer at the Shanghai Shenlun law firm, said the rules would be a headache for the internet companies.
“A lot of effort and additional costs to properly implement these new regulatory requirements,” he said.
“And the risk of non-compliance will also be very high.
“So I believe that many internet companies may consider directly prohibiting minors from using their services.”
Reuters/AFP