China to Introduce Digital IDs for Minors to Enforce Gaming Restrictions

BEIJING, September 28 (TMTPOST) - The State Council of China has called for the implementation of a national online gaming ID system for minors to prevent unauthorized access to online gaming by minors. The State Council has recently released its Guidelines for Women and Children’s Development (2021-2030) and Guidelines for Children’s Development (2021-2030), in which the State Council specifies guidelines for the use of online gaming, online streaming services, and social media by minors. The guidelines call for proper management of minors’ presence on the Internet, including the management of playtime, authorizations, and spending.

Source: Visual China

A national digital ID for online gaming will lay the technological backbone for a comprehensive monitoring mechanism that protects minors on the Internet. The comprehensive mechanism involves the participation of families, schools, and society. The mechanism will help to provide Internet services for minors that are appropriate and proper and prevent Internet addiction.

The National Press and Publication Administration of China rolled out the strictest regulation on August 30 regarding online gaming for minors. Now all online gaming service providers are only allowed to provide one-hour online gaming service for minors between 20:00 and 21:00 on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and national holidays. Online gaming service providers are not permitted to provide minors with online game access during other times. However, it is reported that some minors can purchase accounts registered by adults online and trick the system.

The national digital ID for online gaming for minors will help prevent similar tricks from working, making sure that children can only have access to online games with one ID.

The implementation of the digital ID for online gaming also required support from the government, game companies, and parents. Information asymmetry between the government, game companies, and parents should be broken and all parties should make sure minors only log into the virtual world using the digital ID.

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