The Pulse
China Drafts Rules Covering AI Services Used by Minors
China has published a draft regulation covering artificial intelligence services, social platforms, games and smart devices used by minors. The proposal would restrict virtual companions, stranger social networks and services that encourage
AI.info Team ·
China’s internet regulator has proposed broad rules that would restrict how artificial intelligence and other online services interact with minors, including a ban on virtual relatives and virtual companions and mandatory child-protection settings for some AI products.
The Cyberspace Administration of China published the draft Regulation on Protecting Minors’ Healthy and Safe Use of the Internet on September 18. The proposal is open for public comment until October 17 and has not yet taken effect. The full notice is available from the Cyberspace Administration of China.
AI Services Would Need a Minors’ Mode
The draft applies to online services offered to minors in China, manufacturers of smart devices and app-distribution platforms. It specifically places “artificial intelligence services that may affect minors’ cognition” among the services that must be delivered through a minors’ mode to users under 16.
The proposal does not define that AI category in technical terms. Its wording would cover services that could shape how children understand people, events or themselves, while leaving regulators room to set more detailed standards later. The draft also requires online providers to assess the potential effects of their services on minors before setting their target users and service methods.
Virtual Companions and Stranger Social Networks Face a Ban
Under the proposed rules, providers could not offer minors stranger-to-stranger social networking, except to people aged 16 or older who rely mainly on their own labor income. The draft also prohibits virtual family members, virtual companions and other virtual intimate-relationship services for minors.
Services that induce addiction or could seriously affect a minor’s physical or mental health would also be barred. Providers could not offer live-stream publishing to users under 16. The restrictions would sit alongside existing rules governing online games and other services aimed at children.
The draft would require providers to identify minor users through a combination of methods, including legal identity documents, public online identity systems, one-time facial verification that does not retain facial data and behavioral-feature recognition. Providers would have to take measures to protect the personal information collected through those checks.
Platforms Could Face Large Fines
The proposal would place direct responsibility on online platforms, device makers and app stores. Online providers would need systems for algorithm review, technology-ethics review, content management, network security and data security. They would also be prohibited from designing algorithmic models that encourage emotional dependence, compulsive use or excessive spending by minors.
If a provider identifies a minor in an extreme situation involving self-harm or suicide, it would have to intervene and promptly contact the user’s guardian or emergency contact. In minors’ mode, services could not display information that harms or may affect a minor’s physical or mental health.
Smart-device manufacturers would have to support linked minors’ modes, one-step activation, verified exit procedures, anti-circumvention features and controls over usage periods, duration, functions and content. App stores would need to assess age suitability, apply stricter review to apps seeking distribution within minors’ mode and restrict downloads or installation when an app does not match the user’s age.
The draft also creates a filing system. Providers and device manufacturers offering minors’ modes would submit information about their settings and functions to provincial cyberspace authorities. Platforms with very large numbers of minor users or significant influence over minors would submit additional reports through provincial authorities to the national regulator, with annual verification of the filings.
Proposed Penalties Reach 10 Times Illegal Revenue
Violations of several core requirements could bring warnings, confiscation of illegal income and fines ranging from 100,000 yuan to 1 million yuan when there is no illegal income or the amount is below 1 million yuan. Where illegal income exceeds 1 million yuan, the proposed fine would range from one to ten times that income.
Managers and other directly responsible personnel could face personal fines of up to 100,000 yuan. Serious or repeated violations could lead to suspension of business, shutdown of a website or app, or loss of a relevant business license.
Separate violations of device and filing requirements could bring fines of 100,000 yuan to 1 million yuan for the organization. Providers that fail to offer an appeal channel for users affected by minors’ mode could face fines of 50,000 yuan to 500,000 yuan.
China’s Draft Extends Existing Child-Safety Rules
The proposed regulation would not rely on platforms alone. Schools would be expected to teach online safety and manage smart devices brought by students. Teachers would receive guidance on identifying and intervening when students show signs of internet addiction, while guardians would be responsible for helping children activate and use minors’ mode.
The regulator says the draft builds on China’s existing Minor Protection Law, Cybersecurity Law, Personal Information Protection Law and Minor Internet Protection Regulation. It also leaves the national cyberspace authority room to adjust the categories of restricted services as online products change.
The text leaves the effective date blank because it is still a consultation draft. For now, the next formal step is the October 17 deadline for public feedback.