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.
Stocks of many leading Chinese internet firms fell Wednesday following the CAC’s announcement, with Tencent’s Hong Kong-listed shares down 3 per cent.
Meanwhile, web search, AI and online services giant Baidu saw its shares fall 3.75 per cent during trading in Hong Kong.
Source: CNA
