Cyberspace Administration of China: Apps must not provide minors with services that induce their addiction

Screenshot of the official website of the State Internet Information Office

People's Daily Beijing, January 5 (Shen Jiaping) According to the official website of the State Internet Information Office, in order to further standardize the management of mobile Internet application information services, promote the healthy and orderly development of the industry, protect the legitimate rights and interests of citizens, legal persons and other organizations, and create a clear cyberspace, the State Internet Information Office recently issued the "Provisions on the Administration of Mobile Internet Application Information Services (Draft for Solicitation of Comments)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Draft for Comments"). It is mentioned that application providers should adhere to the principle of the most favorable advantage for minors and shall not provide minor users with relevant products and services in any form that induce their addiction.

According to the Draft for Comments, where an application provides users with services such as information release and instant messaging, it shall conduct authentic identity information authentication for users applying for registration based on methods such as mobile phone numbers, ID card numbers, or unified social credit codes. Where users do not provide real identity information, or fraudulently use the identity information of organizations or others for false registration, they must not be provided with relevant services. Application providers providing Internet news information services through applications shall obtain Internet news information service licenses, and it is prohibited to carry out Internet news information service activities without permission or beyond the scope of permission.

The Draft for Comments requires that application providers should establish and improve management mechanisms for information content review, establish and improve management measures such as user registration, account management, information review, daily inspections, and emergency response, and allocate professionals and technical capabilities appropriate to the scale of services. For registered users who violate relevant laws and regulations and service agreements, the application provider shall, in accordance with the law, employ disposal measures such as warnings, restricting functions, and closing accounts, and keep records and report to the relevant competent departments.

At the same time, application providers shall standardize operation and management behaviors, and must not use false publicity, bundled downloads, etc., or use illegal and bad information to induce users to download, and must not use machine or manual means to brush lists, brush quantities, control evaluations, and create false traffic.

The Draft for Comments also proposes that application providers should adhere to the principle of being most beneficial to minors, pay attention to the healthy growth of minors, perform all obligations for the protection of minors' networks, strictly implement the requirements for real-name registration and login of minor user accounts, and must not provide minor users with relevant products and services that induce their addiction in any form.

For application distribution platforms, the Draft for Comments requires that applications for listing and updating application names, icons, profiles, information services, personal information collection and use behaviors, etc. be reviewed, and where it is found that it is inconsistent with the real identity information of the registered entity, especially those who use the party and state image logo in violation of the law or pretend to be in the name of a state organ, they must not provide services; Where organizations have lawful rights and interests, they shall stop providing services.

Where the information services provided by applications fall within the scope of Article 7 of these Provisions, the application distribution platform shall verify the relevant licensing and other circumstances; where they fall within the scope of Article 15 of these Provisions, the application distribution platform shall verify the security assessment. Where verification is not passed, the provision of services shall be stopped.

In addition, application distribution platforms shall establish application monitoring and evaluation mechanisms, improve technical capabilities and management efficiency, resolutely crack down on online black and gray production, prevent data fraud such as download volume and evaluation indicators, and must not carry out false publicity by means of fictitious download volumes, fabricated evaluations, etc.