ByteDance has imposed new limits on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, for users who are under 15 years old.
The company said on Sept. 18 that Douyin’s youngest users would only be allowed to access the social video platform between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. each day. They’ll also be limited to just 40 minutes of access to the app within that time frame.
ByteDance hasn’t ignored concerns about how teenagers outside China are using TikTok—it added new restrictions to push notifications so they wouldn’t awaken teenage users, for example, and limited their ability to receive direct messages from other users by default—but those changes aren’t nearly as extensive as the so-called “youth mode” it added to Douyin.
That’s likely because China has become increasingly strict about how teenagers use technology in recent months. Tencent started using facial recognition to limit the amount of time minors could spend playing games in July, for example, and in August the Chinese government issued a new rule that prevents teens from gaming at all Monday through Thursday.
Platforms like Douyin have also been required to add real-name identification for all of their users by requesting their names, phone numbers, and some form of official ID. These new restrictions depend on that identification process; ByteDance said it would automatically enable the more restrictive youth mode for every Douyin user who falls into the designated age group.
