China pilots addiction prevention system on short video platforms

Several of China's online short video platforms including Douyin (Tik Tok) and Kuaishou have started trial testing a system designed to prevent addiction among adolescent viewers.

It is part of an initiative launched by the Cyberspace Administration of China to protect minors and ensure their healthy growth.

A Chinese mobile phone user uses the short video app Douyin (Tik Tok)and Kuaishou on his smartphone in Hangzhou city, east China's Zhejiang province, 28 March 2019. [Photo: IC]

According to the administration, the built-in addiction-prevention system will be activated alongside the short video apps, with a reminder popping up to guide parents and young children to an "adolescent mode" designed for young viewers.

In the "adolescent mode," certain functions of the apps are disabled, inappropriate content is blocked and the length and slots of a user's time online are limited.

This is the first addiction prevention initiative launched on China's short video platforms, which had a total of 648 million users, mostly adolescents, as of December 2018, according to a report by the China Internet Network Information Center.

The Cyberspace Administration of China says it plans to evaluate the effects of the pilot program as well as enhance regulation over the industry, and have the system available for the country's major short video platforms in June.