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China Proposes to Limit Children's Smartphone Time to a Max of 2 Hours a Day

A boy covering himself with an umbrella from the rain, browses a smartphone placed on the ground at the Forbidden City in Beijing on July 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
A boy covering himself with an umbrella from the rain, browses a smartphone placed on the ground at the Forbidden City in Beijing on July 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
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China Proposes to Limit Children's Smartphone Time to a Max of 2 Hours a Day

A boy covering himself with an umbrella from the rain, browses a smartphone placed on the ground at the Forbidden City in Beijing on July 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
A boy covering himself with an umbrella from the rain, browses a smartphone placed on the ground at the Forbidden City in Beijing on July 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

China’s internet watchdog has laid out regulations to curb the amount of time children spend on their smartphones, in the latest blow to firms such as Tencent and ByteDance, which run social media platforms and online games.

The Cyberspace Administration of China on Wednesday published the draft guidelines on its site, stating that minors would not be allowed to use most internet services on mobile devices from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., and that children between the ages of 16 and 18 would only be able to use the internet for two hours a day.

Children between the ages of 8 and 15 would be allowed only an hour a day, while those under 8 would only be allowed 40 minutes.

Only certain services, such as apps or platforms that are deemed suitable to the physical and mental development of minors, will be exempted. The CAC did not specify which internet services would be allowed exemptions, The Associated Press reported.

The restrictions are Beijing’s latest efforts to attempt to limit internet addiction, a problem it views as widespread among its youth. In 2019, Beijing limited children’s daily online game time to 90 minutes a day and tightened those restrictions in 2021, allowing children only an hour a day of online game play on Fridays, weekends and public holidays.

Short-video and online video platforms like Douyin, Bilibili and Kuaishou have offered youth modes that restrict the type of content shown to minors and the length of time they can use the service. Children are also pushed educational content, such as science experiments.

The latest restrictions would impact firms like Tencent, China’s largest online game company, and ByteDance, which runs popular short-video platform Douyin. Firms in China are often responsible for enforcing regulations.

“To effectively strengthen the online protection of minors, the CAC has in recent years pushed for the establishment of a youth mode on internet platforms, expanding its coverage, optimizing its functions and enriching it with age-appropriate content,” the CAC said.

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China Launches First Satellites of Constellation to Rival Starlink 

The Long March-2F Y13 rocket, carrying the Shenzhou-13 spacecraft and three astronauts in China's second crewed mission to build its own space station, launches at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center near Jiuquan, Gansu province, China October 16, 2021. (Reuters)
The Long March-2F Y13 rocket, carrying the Shenzhou-13 spacecraft and three astronauts in China's second crewed mission to build its own space station, launches at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center near Jiuquan, Gansu province, China October 16, 2021. (Reuters)
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China Launches First Satellites of Constellation to Rival Starlink 

The Long March-2F Y13 rocket, carrying the Shenzhou-13 spacecraft and three astronauts in China's second crewed mission to build its own space station, launches at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center near Jiuquan, Gansu province, China October 16, 2021. (Reuters)
The Long March-2F Y13 rocket, carrying the Shenzhou-13 spacecraft and three astronauts in China's second crewed mission to build its own space station, launches at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center near Jiuquan, Gansu province, China October 16, 2021. (Reuters)

A Chinese state-owned enterprise on Monday launched the first batch of satellites for a mega-constellation designed to rival US company Space X's Starlink's near-global internet network, a state-backed newspaper reported.

The launch marks an important step in Beijing's strategic goal of creating its own version of Starlink, a growing commercial broadband constellation that has about 5,500 satellites in space and is used by consumers, companies and government agencies.

The competition to occupy Earth's lower orbits also has military implications, with the potential to affect the balance of power between warring countries.

The launch, led by Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technology (SSST), took place at Taiyuan Satellite Launch Centre, one of China's main satellite and missile launch centers, located in the northern province of Shanxi, the China Securities Journal reported.

The launch is part of SSST's "Thousand Sails Constellation" plan, also known as the "G60 Starlink Plan", which began last year and aims to deploy more than 15,000 low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites.

LEO satellites usually operate at altitudes of 300km to 2,000km from the Earth's surface and have the advantage of being cheaper and providing more efficient transmission than satellites at higher orbits.

Starlink, operated by billionaire Elon Musk, has tens of thousands of users in the United States so far and plans to add tens of thousands more satellites to its system, the largest of its kind.

Chinese researchers in the People's Liberation Army (PLA) have over the past two years studied the deployment of Starlink in the war in Ukraine and repeatedly warned about the risks it poses to China, should the country find itself in a military conflict with the United States.

In January, an op-ed published in a PLA mouthpiece described the deployment of Starlink as a "serious threat to the security of space assets of various countries."

SSST's "Thousand Sails constellation" is one of three "ten-thousand star constellation" plans China is hoping will allow it to close the gap with SpaceX.

SSST's plan is to launch 108 satellites this year, 648 satellites by the end of 2025, provide a "global network coverage" by 2027, and get to 15,000 satellites deployed before 2030.

SSST did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report.