Chinese individuals under the age of 18 will soon be prohibited from using the internet on their smartphones during nighttime hours.
Moreover, a new law will limit the daily time minors spend on the internet.
The law was unveiled on Wednesday and is expected to come into effect on September 2nd, following a regulatory public consultation.
The law stipulates that minors will be banned from using the internet on any mobile device between 10:00 PM and 6:00 AM.
Additionally, a phone-based system will be implemented to restrict the daily internet usage of minors.
Those aged 16 and 17 will be allowed two hours of internet access, while children under the age of eight will have a mere 40 minutes of usage time.
These new regulations proposed by the Chinese Cyberspace Administration will be among the most stringent measures in the world in this regard.
Parents will have the option to deactivate these features if they wish.
According to the Chinese Cyberspace Administration, these new measures aim to “create a safe and healthy internet environment for minors.”
They follow other actions taken by the Chinese authorities in recent years to limit minors’ internet usage.
China has issued numerous laws in recent years to achieve this objective.
Since 2021, the time that children can spend playing games online has been restricted. The approval of new video games has also been frozen for nine months, causing concerns among many tech companies, notably Tencent.
