In a blog post published Saturday, parent firm ByteDance said that the Chinese version of the famous short video app TikTok, known as Douyin, will limit users under the age of 14 to 40 minutes each day.
The app’s youth mode complies with the Chinese government’s new limitations on younger children’s access to video games. Teens under the age of 14 will be permitted to use Douyin between the hours of 6 a.m. and 10 p.m., but not outside of that time frame, according to the firm. The regulations will apply to “real-name authenticated users” under the age of 14, and the firm advised parents to assist their children in completing the real-name authentication procedure or activating youth mode when the app prompts them to do so.
The Chinese government has been working to cut down on the amount of time Chinese youngsters spend online, which it considers to be detrimental. Chinese residents under the age of 18 are only allowed to play online games between the hours of 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Fridays, weekends, and holidays, according to new restrictions announced last month by the country’s National Press and Publication Administration. Authorities have ordered that game firms and platforms such as Douyin utilize real-name identification for all of its users; the procedure requires players to submit a phone number and other kinds of identification in order to access online games.
Users in youth mode will now have access to educational content such as “interesting popular scientific experiments, exhibitions at museums and galleries, gorgeous scenery around the country, explanations of historical knowledge, and so on,” according to ByteDance.
