The time spent playing online games by underage users has been significantly reduced
The first anniversary of the implementation of the new law on the protection of minors
□ Our reporter Pu Xiaolei
This year, Beijing citizen Wu Feng can finally stop worrying about his son's addiction to playing mobile games.
Wu Feng's son is in junior high school. Due to the restrictions of the anti-addiction system, he can only play mobile games from 20:00 to 21:00 on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and statutory holidays.
In Wu Feng's opinion, the youth mode has helped a lot. "Now he can only play 3 hours a week within the specified time, so he has more time to study and play basketball."
On June 1 this year, the newly revised Minor Protection Law came into force for the first anniversary.
The juvenile model that frees minors from being addicted to the Internet is a mandatory requirement of this law, and it is also the main model of Internet protection for minors at present, which greatly promotes and guarantees the healthy use of the Internet by minors.
The 49th "Statistical Report on the Development of China's Internet" released by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) in February this year showed that the duration and payment of online games for underage users decreased significantly.
Compared with the "teenage model", Professor Lin Wei, vice president of the University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, prefers to call it the "minor model".
Lin Wei pointed out that the juvenile model of network services has been gradually improved and perfected in recent years in terms of system construction and practical application, and has made important progress, showing a governance model with Chinese characteristics. Looking forward to the future, the juvenile model will be further refined and improved. Implementation will become the most important construction direction for the protection of the Internet of minors in China.
The effect of preventing addiction to online games is remarkable
According to the "2020 National Research Report on Internet Usage of Minors", the number of underage Internet users in China will reach 183 million in 2020.
In order to solve the problem of minors indulging in online games, the newly revised Law on the Protection of Minors has added a special chapter on "Network Protection", making targeted regulations for the Internet information department and other relevant departments, as well as network product and service providers. .
In response to the problems of minors' Internet addiction and excessive game consumption, the State Press and Publication Administration issued the "Notice on Further Strict Management to Effectively Prevent Minors from Addicting to Online Games". measures to resolutely prevent minors from indulging in online games,
Effectively protect the physical and mental health of minors.
In response to the addiction of minors in social software, short videos, online games, etc., relevant online product and service providers have launched and upgraded anti-addiction systems in accordance with legal requirements.
Tencent has established and upgraded the youth model on various platforms such as WeChat and QQ. For example, a new function of "guardian authorization" has been added to WeChat, through which parents can manage their children's use of WeChat.
After this function is enabled, teenagers can remotely apply for the guardian's authorization to access articles, mini-programs, links and video accounts on the official account, and the guardian can remotely authorize the application through their personal WeChat account.
Since September last year, Douyin has launched strict anti-addiction measures for teenagers on the platform. In Douyin's youth mode, users can only use it for 40 minutes a day by default, and cannot use it from 22:00 to 6:00 the next day.
Douyin's "same city" and "hot search" entrances will be hidden, and minors cannot use private message chat and live broadcast functions, let alone recharge and reward.
In addition to implementing the "Notice on Further Strict Management to Effectively Prevent Minors from Indulging in Online Games", a number of network product and service providers have also taken the initiative to take more measures to ensure the effect of preventing addiction.
Tencent Games adopts a stricter face recognition scheme for larger head games - real-name users over 55 years old need face recognition every time they log in to games at night to prevent minors from fraudulently using their parents' accounts or devices play games.
The "2021 Game Industry Public Opinion Ecology Report" released by the Game Work Committee of the China Audio and Digital Association shows that the game anti-addiction measures have achieved remarkable results in 2021. Over 80% of the parents surveyed said that their children's game time has been reduced to varying degrees, of which 43% believe that " obviously decrease".
More premium content in Teen Mode
A report recently released by the China Youth Research Center shows that nearly 70% of the minors surveyed have used short videos.
"While the short video platform enriches children's online entertainment, the entertainment, fragmentation and immersion of its own content has also brought many problems, bringing new challenges to the short video platform, regulators, parents, etc. " said Li Yingxin, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and vice president of the Beijing Railway Transportation Intermediate Court (Beijing Fourth Intermediate People's Court).
In the early days of Teen Mode, video content in this mode was pretty boring.
Li Yingxin noticed during the research that most of the content pools in the youth mode are relatively monotonous and boring. In order to avoid responsibility, some platforms directly display "no matching content for the time being" in the live broadcast part. During the survey, one student bluntly said, "I'm sure this is not a kindergarten. Mode? I'm 14 years old, and I'm in teen mode, and I'm watching a video of a nursery rhyme 'Under the bridge in front of the gate, swimming through a flock of ducks'".
Li Yingxin said that this "one-size-fits-all" approach is not conducive to the growth of young people. It is suggested to enrich the content pool of the youth model, not only to focus on the educational function of online platforms for minors, but also to safeguard the rights of minors to leisure and entertainment, so that Children are more willing to use teen mode and benefit from it.
It is gratifying that with the efforts of all parties, the high-quality content in the youth mode is becoming more and more abundant.
On May 31 this year, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the China Soong Ching Ling Foundation, the "Master Lecture for Children" launched by the China Soong Ching Ling Foundation and Tencent launched the "June 1" science special, bringing aerospace and astronomy to children. Interesting popular science knowledge in the fields of , medicine and other fields, and share the growth stories of famous scientific and medical experts.
This is the fourth time the "Master Lecture Hall for Children" has been launched since its launch in September last year.
In Youth Mode 4.0, Kuaishou has selected high-quality content in more than 40 fields such as education, popular science, musical instruments, and sports, and completed over 1.5 million video reviews, allowing teenagers to learn knowledge and relax while watching videos.
Pay attention to risk prevention and also promote development
In the information age, the protection of minors is more complex and arduous. Creating a healthy, safe and clean network environment for minors is a long way to go.
"Based on the complexity of the network environment, how to eliminate the various hazards faced by minors in the network environment, how to balance the relationship between the protection and development of minors, and how to ensure the rights of minors to survive, develop, and receive in the network society. Rights such as the right to protection and the right to participate are major topics that require long-term and in-depth research." said Peng Ling, deputy director of the membership department of the China Law Society and an expert at the Juvenile Affairs Governance and Legal Research Base of China University of Political Science and Law.
Lin Wei believes that when promoting the application of the juvenile model, attention should be paid to its functions of risk prevention and development promotion.
"At the level of risk prevention, the current juvenile model has played an active role in preventing and controlling harmful violations, but more efforts should be made to improve the reliability and effectiveness of the model's functions to isolate harmful information and prevent addiction. Network products and services Providers should ensure that the minors model is simple and easy to use, not arbitrarily broken, and presented in a prominent way that is easily perceived by users; in terms of promoting development, network product and service providers should focus on serving minors and actively provide services for minors. Technologies, products, and services that are adapted to the physical and mental characteristics of minors enable the content in this model to effectively promote the development of minors and improve their network literacy." Lin Wei said.
Over the past year, all relevant departments and units have taken active actions, followed the newly revised legislative concept of the Minor Protection Law, formulated supporting systems, implemented specific regulations, and achieved fruitful results.
For example, the Family Education Promotion Law, as an important law in the legal system for the protection of minors, makes provisions such as teaching minors to surf the Internet healthily, preventing bullying, and preventing minors from being addicted to the Internet.
In order to further strengthen the protection of minors on the Internet, relevant systems are still being improved.
Wang Yang, director of the Work, Youth and Women's Office of the Social Construction Committee of the National People's Congress, said that as a supporting system for the special chapter on "Internet Protection" in the Minors Protection Law, the "Minors Network" was led by the Central Internet Information Office and drafted by the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League. The Protection Regulations are entering the final stage of review and revision. After the regulations are promulgated, they will surely provide more detailed and operable normative guidelines for the protection of minors on the Internet.