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Children under the age of 18 should be limited to no more than two hours of smartphone use every day, according to China's internet regulator, sending shares in tech companies plunging.
The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) stated that it wants smart device providers to implement so-called minor mode programmes that 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 establish 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 limitations for their children.
Investors were dissatisfied.
After the CAC issued its draught rules, which it stated were subject to public input until September 2, shares in Chinese technology businesses dropped primarily in Hong Kong afternoon trade.
Bilibili and Kuaishou fell 6.98% and 3.53%, respectively, while Tencent Holdings, which controls the social network app WeChat, fell 2.99%.
According to Xia Hailong, a lawyer at the Shanghai Shenlun law firm, the laws would be a burden for internet firms.
"A lot of effort and additional costs to properly implement these new regulatory requirements," he explained.
"The risk of noncompliance is also very high." As a result, I predict that many internet corporations will seriously consider barring children from utilising their services."
Authorities have become more worried in recent years about the prevalence of myopia and internet addiction among young people.
The 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 including as Bilibili, Kuaishou, and ByteDance have launched "teenage modes" that limit users' access to content and time of use.
Teenagers are not permitted to use ByteDance's TikTok-like app Douyin for longer than 40 minutes.
The proposed restrictions come as Beijing signalled that a years-long regulatory onslaught on its technology industry might be lifted. Authorities have stated that they will work to encourage the growth of IT behemoths.
