China seeks more curbs on gaming and live-streaming in 10-year plan on children’s development
- Companies are required to restrict the time and content that minors can consume on gaming and live-streaming platforms, as well as social networks
- Leaders want tighter measures to better classify games, review content and control minors’ privacy
China has imposed regulations on gaming and live-streaming in its newly published 10-year national guidelines on children’s development, a move that could translate to higher compliance costs for the country’s online entertainment giants such as Tencent Holdings and ByteDance.
The guidelines, published on Monday by the State Council, the nation’s cabinet, said operators who provide online services, including games, live streaming, audio and video streaming, as well as social networks should limit the time and money minors spend online. Operators are banned from letting teenagers under 16 sign up as live-streamers.
The rules also said that the country aims to implement a unified electronic identity authentication system across the country to manage how minors play games. Actions will also be taken to better classify games, review content, limit game time and protect children’s personal information and privacy.
Latest anti-gaming op-ed adds more uncertainty to China’s video game industry
Beijing has been tightening its grip on the country’s booming digital economy this year. In August, authorities issued a new rule to limit game time for players aged under 18 to between 8pm and 9pm only on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and statutory holidays, marking the country’s most stringent measure yet to tackle gaming addiction among young people.
In January, regulators fined Douyin, the Chinese short-video-sharing app run by TikTok owner ByteDance, for spreading “obscene, pornographic and vulgar information”.
China’s new children’s guidelines, unveiled along with national guidelines for women’s development, cover a wide range of goals to improve the education and welfare of a generation deemed “the country’s future”. One major goal is to increase the completion rate of the country’s nine-year compulsory education programme to over 96 per cent.