China is damn serious about internet addiction among its youth. Back in July, the country launched a new system called “Midnight Patrol” aimed specifically at limiting children’s exposure to mobile phones during nighttime hours.
If the kid tries to play his favorite game after the curfew hour, there will be a prompt followed by a face scan. As if taken out of a Black Mirror episode, the artificial intelligence would then decide if a kid is standing in front of the display and cut the connection if that’s the case.
Now, there’s yet another controversial measure, this time aiming to limit TikTok exposure of kids under 14. TikTok parent company ByteDance announced a new set of rules to enforce this new restriction.
Kids under 14 will be able to access the popular social media app only through Youth Mode, and there’ll be a 40 minutes daily allowance after which the access to the app will be terminated.
“In the youth mode, we have also prepared wonderful content for everyone, such as novel and interesting science experiments, exhibitions in museums and galleries, beautiful scenery across the country, explanations of historical knowledge and so on,” reads the official statement from ByteDance.
