Children in China who are under 16 years of age are prohibited from appearing on online video platforms and livestreams.

The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), or the country’s Internet watchdog and regulator, has enacted a special action in an effort to protect minors from online exploitation and crimes, including child pornography, cyberbullying, and violence.

Specifically, CAC launched said special action when it uncovered soft pornographic images of minors and sexually suggestive emojis from popular online Chinese platforms, including video-sharing mobile app Kuaishou, online shopping platform Taobao, and instant messaging app Tencent QQ.

See also: Chinese government will soon require gamers to use their real names

The companies that own these platforms were fined by CAC in late July. During the special action period, CAC is imposing a zero-tolerance against violations. In other words, wrongdoers will face bigger fines and harsher punishments.

Perhaps surprisingly, China has also banned private tutoring, claiming that this has caused deterioration in the school-life balance of Chinese children.

China is no stranger to implementing strict rules for its netizens. Last month, Chinese tech giant Tencent resorted to using facial recognition to catch children who are violating China’s online gaming digital curfew for minors.

Source: CAC | Via: ZDNet

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *