ByteDance is limiting children until 14 years old to only 40 minutes a day on Douyin, the Chinese equivalent of its famous video-sharing app TikTok.
The new controls, announced by the company in a blog post on September 18, is part of a new “youth mode” that will be rolled out to “real-time authenticated users” under 14. It will limit their usage of the app to 40 minutes a day between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. and deny their access outside of this window.
Douyin is then asking parents to register their children’s real names and ages, as the new controls only apply to accounts that supplied their real information and activated youth mode on the app.
Apart from the time limit, Douyin added educational subjects to youth mode, like “interesting popular science experiments, exhibitions in museums and galleries, beautiful scenery across the country, explanations of historical knowledge, and so on.”
According to a report by Bloomberg, ByteDance has also introduced a new app called Xiao Qu Xing (“Little Fun Star”) with similar safety controls. Users are offered educational short videos ranging from science to literature and art history with a time limit and ability to like, but not upload or share clips.
ByteDance’s move comes after Chinese regulators has imposed a new rule last month, which restricts kids under 18 to play online games for three hours from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and holidays only.
Reuters has previously reported that the new rule is being implemented as part of Beijing’s attempt to strengthen control of its society’s gaming addiction and as a broader crackdown on China’s tech giants.
Read more: China forbids kids to play video games for more than 3 hours a week
The post TikTok owner ByteDance limits kids under 14 to 40 minutes a day on its app in China appeared first on Speed Magazine.
Source: Speed Magazine PH
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