Chinese minors will face severe restrictions on the use of mobile phones and the Internet. China's cyberspace administration has published draft rules that will limit access to content and use of devices depending on the age of the child. Teenagers between the ages of 16 and 18 will be limited to two hours of mobile device use per day. From 22:00 to 06:00 all minors will not be allowed access to the internet.
Some of these restrictions can be manually overridden by parents. The Cyberspace Administration says online platforms will be held accountable for adhering to the new requirements, although no specific sanctions have been mentioned for companies that violate them.
As Bloomberg notes, these rules could be a blow to popular platforms like Tencent's WeChat and ByteDance's Douyin (TikTok's counterpart). Tencent has already had to support imposing temporary restrictions on online gaming for minors in 2021, due to similar concerns about children being addicted to them. Businesses in China use real name registration to comply with access restrictions.
China's proposed rules are similar to laws introduced in US states such as Louisiana, Utah, and Arkansas. They are designed to limit children's access to the Internet and social networks. China's cyberspace administration is conducting public consultations on the proposal, with a deadline of September 2.
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