Viewing limited to 40 minutes per day
Disabled from 10 PM to 6 AM the next day
Douyin (?音·Douyin), the Chinese version of TikTok, has introduced a 'Youth Mode' to address the issue of content addiction among minors. This move is seen as a response to some regions in the United States pushing for a complete ban on TikTok, citing national security threats and addiction concerns.
On the 25th, Douyin unveiled the 'Youth Mode,' which limits usage time and disables the application during certain hours. When switched to the Youth Mode, users can use Douyin for up to 40 minutes per day. Additionally, the app is deactivated from 10 PM to 6 AM the next morning, and features such as live streaming viewing and donations are disabled.
Douyin stated, "We review over 10,000 pieces of harmful content daily and add new ones, and the recommendation algorithm is set more strictly considering age." They also explained, "The content classified under Youth Mode is very rich, and it would take 100,000 days to watch it all."
Furthermore, once Youth Mode is activated, even if the Douyin app is deleted and reinstalled, it will revert to the existing mode. The same applies when logging into the same account on different devices, as it synchronizes accordingly.
However, industry insiders have expressed that this measure is insufficient to prevent minors from being exposed to harmful videos by using adults' phones, such as those of their parents. Chinese economic media Caixin pointed out, "Most platforms adhere to the principle of minimizing personal data collection, making it difficult to directly verify whether the user is the actual person." They added, "Problems can arise in blind spots of monitoring, and similar issues frequently occur in markets like mobile games."
Caixin further cited a statement from a legal officer of a game company, saying, "The issue of protecting minors is becoming increasingly complex," and emphasized, "The industry is paying close attention to whether fingerprint or facial recognition features will become mandatory requirements by regulatory authorities."
According to the 'Q1 Security Governance Transparency Report' released by Douyin Security Center on the 23rd, Douyin removed 320,000 videos potentially harmful to minors and blocked 210,000 accounts in the first quarter. Notably, new regulations were announced prohibiting uploads showing minors entering KTVs, smoking, or driving cars. Videos related to school violence are also banned.
Meanwhile, TikTok recently filed a lawsuit against the state of Montana in the United States, which plans to impose a complete ban on its platform starting next year. In the complaint submitted to the Missoula Federal Court in Montana, TikTok stated, "We challenge Montana's unconstitutional TikTok ban to protect our business and the hundreds of thousands of TikTok users in Montana," and added, "Based on precedent and facts, we are confident we will win." Earlier, Michael Gallagher, chairman of the U.S. House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, had consistently argued that TikTok has a destructive impact on young people and should be banned in the U.S. Utah, Maryland, and South Dakota have banned TikTok use on state government devices, citing concerns that TikTok transfers user information to China. At the end of last year, Indiana filed a lawsuit against TikTok, alleging violations of security and child safety.
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