According to the proposal, minors should not be able to access the internet with a mobile phone between ten in the evening and six in the morning.
In China, strict restrictions are being proposed on the use of smartphones by children and young people.
CAC, the authority that regulates the Internet in China, suggests that 16-18 year olds should be allowed to use mobile phones or other smart devices for a maximum of two hours a day, and 8-16 year olds for one hour. Those younger than this would get even less online time.
The news agency Reuters and financial magazine Financial Times (FT).
The authority suggests that, for example, manufacturers of smart devices and applications would develop a function that would limit usage time and contents.
This so-called teen function would also prevent minors from accessing the internet with smart devices between ten in the evening and six in the morning. Some functions of the phone would be in use even during the restrictions, such as emergency calls, study applications and other functions approved by parents, says FT.
The idea is to also regulate content that children and young people see. According to FT, the rules would encourage online content providers to divide, for example, videos suitable for five different age groups. Children under the age of three could only consume children’s songs, and 16-18-year-olds could only consume “reasonable content”. Content intended for minors should support the core values of socialism and traditional Chinese culture.
However, according to the regulatory authority, parents should be given the option not to use restraints.
For example, technology companies can comment on the proposal until the second of September. The authority did not say when the rules would be implemented.
Another blow to technology companies
The authorities in China are increasingly concerned about the myopia and internet addiction of young people.
Kerta is not the first time China has curbed the screen time of children and young people. Two years ago, China limited under-18s to three hours of gaming per week. Prior regulations allowed 90 minutes of playing time daily and three hours on days off.
This week’s proposal was yet another blow to tech companies operating in China.
Since 2019, online video services such as Bilibili and ByteDance have offered a function that limits usage time and access to content. ByteDance’s Tiktok-like Douyin app prevents teenagers from using it for more than 40 minutes.