China looks to limit Screen time of Children Under 18 to two hours a day on their Smartphones

Hong Kong(China), 03/08/23: Children under the age of 18 should be confined to no more than two hours per day on their smartphones, according to China’s cyberspace regulator. A notification stating the new guidelines from the Chinese government sent shares in tech companies plummeting.

The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) stated on Wednesday that it wanted smart device providers to implement so-called minor mode programmes, which would prevent users under the age of 18 from accessing the internet on mobile devices between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.

According to the CAC, providers would also be required to set time limitations under the proposed revisions.

Users aged 16 to 18 would get two hours each day, children aged eight to sixteen would have one hour, and children under eight would have only eight minutes.

However, the CAC stated that service providers should allow parents to opt out of time limits for their children.

The statement issued has left investors in the country, extremely dissatisfied.

After the CAC issued its draught rules, which it stated were subject to public feedback until September 2, shares in Chinese technology businesses fell, primarily in Hong Kong afternoon trade.

According to Xia Hailong, a lawyer at the Shanghai Shenlun law firm, the laws will be a burden for internet companies.

He said, “A lot of effort and additional costs to properly implement these new regulatory requirements…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.”

Authorities have become increasingly concerned in recent years about the prevalence of myopia and internet addiction among young people.

The Chinese government put a curfew on video game players under the age of 18 in 2021. This was a tremendous blow to gaming behemoths like Tencent.

Since 2019, video-sharing sites such as Bilibili, Kuaishou, and ByteDance have launched “teenage modes” that limit users’ access to content and time of use.

Teenagers are not allowed to use ByteDance’s TikTok-like app Douyin for longer than 40 minutes.

The proposed guidelines follow hints from Beijing that a years-long regulatory crackdown on its technology industry has ceased. Authorities have stated that they will work to foster the growth of tech behemoths.