Chinese TikTok users under the age of 14 are only allowed to spend 40 minutes per day on the platform. This is the latest step taken by China to tackle the online addiction of young Chinese people.
Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, limits users aged 14 and under to 40 minutes per day on its platform, Business Insider reports.
This restriction is implemented in the form of a “youth mode,” which automatically classifies all registered users under the age of 14 in a different user category, writes the Wall Street Journal.
For this category of users, not only will the time spent on the app be limited, but the app will also be closed from 10 p.m. to 6 p.m. every day. If you’re a user under the age of 14, you’ll find that you’re already in “youth mode” when you open the app, “the company said in a statement announcing the change on September 18.
Douyin added in his press release that he will offer “enriching” content to users in “youth mode” related to general culture and educational material.
600 million daily active users
Douyin averaged 600 million daily active users in the first quarter of this year and has gradually introduced restrictions for young users. A looser version of ‘youth’ mode was introduced in June to protect users between the ages of 14 and 18 by limiting the content they can view through search, says media organization linked to Global State Times.
The Chinese government wants to limit the time children spend online. In August, the time Chinese players under the age of 18 could spend online was reduced to three hours per week and one hour per day on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. The measure was imposed on gambling giants like Tencent after a Chinese state publication called gambling “spiritual opium.”
China is also tackling what it calls an unhealthy celebrity culture. This month, 14 Chinese content platforms – including Douyin and Weibo, which looks like Twitter – signed a “self-discipline agreement.” As part of the deal, the platforms will strictly regulate fan behavior and crack down on celebrity gossip in order to uphold “self-discipline” in Chinese cyberspace.
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