Chine Reduces Screen time for kids: In a bid to curb the menace of growing gaming addiction among teenagers, Chinese regulators have slashed the amount of time they can spend on online games to an hour of gameplay on Fridays, weekends and holidays
According to the Xinhua news agency, National Press and Publication Administration has published the rules which say that users under the age of 18 will only be able to play games from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. local time on those days. It also means that online gaming companies can no longer provide gaming services to them in any form outside those hours. They also need to have real name verification systems in place.
They will also increase the frequency and intensity of inspections for these online gaming companies to ensure they were putting in place time limits and anti-addiction systems. The regulators will work with parents, schools and other members of the society to combat youth gaming addiction
Before this, kids and teenagers could spend three hours on holidays and 1.5 hours on other days playing online games, as per sources.
The new rules come amid a broad crackdown by Beijing on China’s tech giants, such as Alibaba Group and Tencent Holdings, which has unnerved investors, hammering Chinese shares traded at home and abroad.
An article published by the state-run Economic Information Daily had warned that teenagers were addicted to online video games. Some publications also called these games “spiritual opium". This description was later removed. However, the calls for this industry to be curbed have been very strong. This sparked the crackdown on gaming companies.
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