Regulations on the Protection of Minors on the Internet

Decree of the State Council of the People's Republic of 

No. 766

The Regulations on the Online Protection of Minors have been adopted at the 15th executive meeting of the State Council on September 20, 2023, and are hereby promulgated and will come into force on January 1, 2024.

Premier Li Qiang　　　　　

October 16, 2023　　

Regulations on the Protection of Minors on the Internet

Chapter I General Provisions

Article 1: These Regulations are formulated on the basis of the "Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Minors," the "Cybersecurity Law of the People's Republic of China," the "Personal Information Protection Law of the People's Republic of China," and other laws, so as to create an online environment conducive to minors' physical and mental health and protect minors' lawful rights and interests.

Article 2: Efforts to protect minors online shall adhere to the leadership of the Communist Party of China, persist in taking the core socialist values as the guide, adhere to the principle that is most beneficial to minors, adapt to the healthy physical and mental development of minors and the laws and characteristics of cyberspace, and implement social co-governance.

Article 3: The state internet information departments are responsible for overall planning and coordination of efforts to protect minors online, and are to do a good job of efforts to protect minors online on the basis of their duties.

The state departments for press and publication, film, and relevant departments such as for education, telecommunications, public security, civil affairs, culture and tourism, public health, market supervision and administration, radio and television, and so forth are to do a good job of protecting minors online on the basis of their respective duties.

Local people's governments at the county level or above and their relevant departments are to do a good job of online protection efforts for minors on the basis of their respective duties.

Article 4: The Communist Youth League, women's federations, trade unions, disabled persons' federations, working committees for caring for the next generation, youth federations, student federations, young pioneers, and other people's organizations, relevant social organizations, and grassroots mass autonomous organizations are to assist relevant departments in efforts to protect minors online and preserve their lawful rights and interests.

Article 5: Schools and families shall educate and guide minors to participate in activities beneficial to physical and mental health, use the internet scientifically, civilly, safely, and reasonably, and prevent and intervene in minors' addiction to the internet.

Article 6: Network product and service providers, personal information processors, manufacturers and sellers of smart terminal products shall comply with laws, administrative regulations, and relevant state provisions, respect social morality, abide by business ethics, be honest and creditworthy, perform online protection obligations for minors, and bear social responsibility.

Article 7: Network product and service providers, personal information processors, manufacturers and sellers of smart terminal products shall accept government and social oversight, cooperate with relevant departments in lawfully carrying out oversight and inspections of efforts involving minors' online protection, establish convenient, reasonable, and effective channels for complaints and reports, publish channels and methods for complaints and reports in conspicuous ways, and promptly accept and handle public complaints and reports.

Article 8: Where any organization or individual discovers violations of these Regulations, they may make complaints or reports to relevant departments such as for internet information, press and publication, film, education, telecommunications, public security, civil affairs, culture and tourism, health and health, market supervision and management, radio and television, and so forth. Departments that receive complaints or reports shall promptly handle them in accordance with law; Where it is not part of that department's duties, it shall be promptly transferred to the department that has the authority to handle it.

Article 9: Network-related industry organizations shall strengthen industry self-discipline, draft industry norms related to the online protection of minors, guide members in performing obligations to protect minors online, and strengthen online protections for minors.

Article 10: News media shall carry out publicity of laws, regulations, policy measures, typical cases, and relevant knowledge on the online protection of minors through methods such as news reports, special columns (programs), and public interest advertisements, conduct public opinion oversight of conduct infringing on minors' lawful rights and interests, and guide the entire society to jointly participate in the online protection of minors.

Article 11: The State encourages and supports the strengthening of scientific research and personnel cultivation in areas of online protection of minors, carrying out international exchanges and cooperation.

Article 12: Organizations and individuals that have made outstanding contributions to efforts to protect minors online are to be given commendations and awards in accordance with relevant national provisions.

Chapter II: Promotion of Internet Literacy

Article 13: The State Council education department shall include internet literacy education in the content of school quality education, and work with the state internet information department to draft indicators for assessing minors' internet literacy.

The education departments shall guide and support schools in carrying out online literacy education for minors, cultivating minors' awareness of network security, civility literacy, behavioral habits, and protective skills around the formation of online moral awareness, the cultivation of online legal concepts, capacity building for network use, and personal and property security protections.

Article 14: People's governments at the county level or above shall scientifically plan and rationally lay out the situation, promote the balanced and coordinated development of public interest online services, strengthen the establishment of public cultural facilities that provide public interest online services, and improve the conditions for minors to access the Internet.

Local people's governments at the county level or above shall provide primary and secondary schools with high-quality Internet literacy education courses by allocating primary and secondary schools with instructors with corresponding professional capabilities, purchasing services by the government, or encouraging primary and secondary schools to purchase relevant services on their own.

Article 15: Where schools, communities, libraries, cultural centers, youth palaces, and other such venues provide internet access service facilities for minors, they shall provide minors with online guidance and a safe and healthy online environment through methods such as arranging professionals or recruiting volunteers, as well as installing software for minors' online protection or employing other security protection technical measures.

Article 16: Schools shall include content such as improving students' internet literacy in education and teaching activities, and reasonably use the Internet to carry out teaching activities, establish and complete management systems for students to access the Internet during school, lawfully regulate and manage smart terminal products brought into school by minor students, help students develop good online habits, cultivate students' awareness of network security and online rule of law, and increase students' ability to obtain and analyze online information.

Article 17: Guardians of minors shall strengthen the establishment of family tutoring and family style, increase their own internet literacy, regulate their own use of the Internet, and strengthen education, demonstration, guidance, and oversight of minors' use of the Internet.

Article 18: The State encourages and supports the research and development, production, and use of network technologies, products, and services such as network protection software, smart terminal products, and models for minors, and special zones for minors that specifically target minors and adapt to the laws and characteristics of minors' physical and mental health development, strengthen the establishment and transformation of network barrier-free environments, and promote minors to broaden their horizons, cultivate sentiments, and improve their quality.

Article 19: Network protection software for minors and smart terminal products specifically for minors' use shall have functions such as effectively identifying illegal information and information that may affect minors' physical and mental health, protecting minors' rights and interests in personal information, preventing minors' addiction to the Internet, and facilitating guardians' performance of guardianship duties.

The state internet information departments, in conjunction with the relevant departments of the State Council, are to clarify the relevant technical standards or requirements for minors' online protection software and smart terminal products specifically for minors to use as needed for minors' online protection efforts, and guide and supervise network-related industry organizations to follow relevant technical standards and requirements to assess the effectiveness of the use of minors' online protection software and smart terminal products specifically for minors.

Manufacturers of smart terminal products shall install network protection software for minors before the product leaves the factory, or use a conspicuous method to inform users of the installation channels and methods. Before selling products, sellers of smart terminal products shall use conspicuous methods to inform users of the installation of network protection software for minors, as well as the installation channels and methods.

Guardians of minors shall reasonably use and guide minors' use of network protection software, smart terminal products, and so forth, to create a good family environment for network use.

Article 20: Online platform service providers with a large number of minors or a significant impact on groups of minors shall perform the following obligations:

(1) At stages such as the design, research and development, and operation of online platform services, fully consider the characteristics of minors' physical and mental health development, and periodically carry out impact assessments of minors' online protections;

(2) Providing models for minors or special areas for minors, to facilitate minors' access to products or services on the platform that are beneficial to their physical and mental health;

(3) Establish and complete compliance systems for the online protection of minors in accordance with state provisions, establishing independent bodies composed primarily of external members to oversee the online protection of minors;

(4) Follow the principles of openness, fairness, and impartiality, draft special platform rules, clarifying the obligations of product or service providers within the platform to protect minors online, and conspicuously remind minors of the rights to online protection that they enjoy in accordance with law and the remedy channels for suffering online harm;

(5) Stop providing services to providers of products or services within the platform that violate laws and administrative regulations that seriously harm minors' physical and mental health or infringe upon minors' other lawful rights and interests;

(6) Publish special social responsibility reports on the online protection of minors each year, and accept social oversight.

Specific measures for designating online platform service providers with a large number of minors or a significant impact on groups of minors as referred to in the preceding paragraph are to be separately drafted by the state internet information departments in conjunction with relevant departments.

Chapter III: Norms for Online Information Content

Article 21: The State encourages and supports the production, reproduction, publication, and dissemination of the production, reproduction, publication, and dissemination of the core socialist values and advanced socialist culture, revolutionary culture, and excellent traditional Chinese culture, forging a firm sense of the Chinese national community, cultivating minors' feelings and good moral character, guiding minors to develop good living habits and behavioral habits and other online information, and creating a clear cyberspace and a good online ecology conducive to minors' healthy growth.

Article 22: Online information containing content that endangers minors' physical and mental health, such as obscenity, pornography, violence, cults, superstition, gambling, inducement to commit suicide, terrorism, separatism, or extremism, must not be produced, reproduced, published, or disseminated by any organization or individual.

No organization or individual may produce, reproduce, publish, disseminate or possess pornographic network information about minors.

Article 23: Where network products and services contain information that may trigger or induce minors to imitate unsafe conduct, carry out conduct violating social morality, generate extreme emotions, or develop negative hobbies, which may affect minors' physical and mental health, organizations and individuals producing, reproducing, publishing, or disseminating that information shall give a conspicuous reminder before the information is displayed.

The state internet information departments, in conjunction with the state departments for press and publication, film, and the State Council departments for education, telecommunications, public security, culture and tourism, radio and television, and so forth, are to determine the specific types, scope, judgment standards, and prompt methods for information that may affect minors' physical and mental health on the basis of the provisions of the preceding paragraph.

Article 24: Information that may affect minors' physical and mental health must not be produced, reproduced, published, or disseminated by any organization or individual in network products and services that specifically target minors.

Network product and service providers must not present information that may affect minors' physical and mental health in key links such as the first screen on the homepage, pop-up windows, hot searches, and other key links where the product or service is conspicuously positioned and is likely to attract users' attention.

Network product and service providers must not conduct commercial marketing to minors through automated decision-making.

Article 25: Minors must not be sent, pushed, tricked, or forced by any organization or individual to contact online information that contains content that harms or may affect minors' physical and mental health.

Article 26: Cyberbullying such as insulting, slandering, threatening, or maliciously damaging the image of minors must not be carried out by any organization or individual through the network in the form of text, pictures, audio, or video.

Network product and service providers shall establish and complete mechanisms for early warning, prevention, identification, monitoring, and handling of cyberbullying, setting up functions and channels to facilitate minors and their guardians to keep records of cyberbullying and exercise their right to notification, and provide options to facilitate minors to set up cyberbullying information protection options such as blocking unfamiliar users, the visible range of information posted by themselves, prohibiting reprinting or commenting on information posted by themselves, and prohibiting sending information to themselves.

Network product and service providers shall establish and complete databases of cyberbullying information characteristics, optimize relevant algorithm models, and use methods such as artificial intelligence, big data, and manual review to strengthen the identification and monitoring of cyberbullying information.

Article 27: Organizations and individuals must not organize, instigate, coerce, lure, deceive, or assist minors in carrying out illegal or criminal acts through the Internet in forms such as text, pictures, audio and video.

Article 28: Providers of online education network products and services that target minors shall follow laws, administrative regulations, and relevant state provisions to provide corresponding products and services based on the characteristics of minors' physical and mental development and cognitive abilities at different ages.

Article 29: Network product and service providers shall strengthen management of information released by users, employing effective measures to prevent the production, reproduction, publication, and dissemination of information in violation of articles 22, 24, 25, the first paragraph of article 26, and article 27 of these Regulations, and where information in violation of the provisions of the preceding article is discovered, they shall immediately stop transmitting relevant information, employ measures such as deleting, blocking, or disconnecting links, to prevent the spread of information, store relevant records, and report to internet information and public security departments, and so forth. Users who produce, copy, publish, and disseminate the above information will be subject to warnings, restrictions on functions, suspension of services, account closure and other measures.

Where network product and service providers discover that users publishing or disseminating information provided for in the first paragraph of article 23 of these Regulations have not given a conspicuous reminder, they shall make a reminder or notify users to give a reminder; If no reminder is given, the information shall not be transmitted.

Article 30: Where the state departments for internet information, press and publication, and film, as well as the State Council departments for education, telecommunications, public security, culture and tourism, radio and television, and so forth, discover information that violates articles 22, 24, 25, 26, paragraph 1, or 27 of these Regulations, or where information provided for in the first paragraph of article 23 of these Regulations is not conspicuously prompted, they shall request that network product and service providers handle it in accordance with article 29 of these Regulations; For the above-mentioned information originating abroad, relevant institutions shall be notified in accordance with law to employ technical measures and other necessary measures to block the dissemination.

Chapter IV: Network Protection of Personal Information

Article 31: Where network service providers provide minors with services such as information release or instant messaging, they shall lawfully request that minors or their guardians provide minors' true identity information. Where minors or their guardians do not provide minors' real identity information, network service providers must not provide relevant services for minors.

Online live streaming service providers shall establish mechanisms for dynamic verification of the true identity information of online live streaming publishers, and must not provide online live streaming publishing services to minors who do not comply with legal provisions.

Article 32: Personal information processors shall strictly abide by the provisions of the state internet information departments and relevant departments on the scope of necessary personal information for network products and services, and must not compel minors or their guardians to consent to unnecessary personal information handling, and must not refuse minors to use their basic functional services because minors or their guardians do not consent to the handling of minors' unnecessary personal information or withdraw consent.

Article 33: Guardians of minors shall educate and guide minors to enhance their awareness and ability to protect personal information, grasp the scope of personal information, and understand personal information security risks, guiding minors to exercise their rights to access, copy, correct, supplement, delete, and other such rights in personal information handling activities, to protect minors' rights and interests in personal information.

Article 34: Where minors or their guardians lawfully request access, copying, correction, supplementation, or deletion of minors' personal information, personal information handlers shall comply with the following provisions:

(1) Provide convenient methods and channels to support minors or their guardians' access to the type, quantity, and so forth of minors' personal information, and must not restrict the reasonable requests of minors or their guardians;

(2) Providing convenient functions to support minors or their guardians in copying, correcting, supplementing, or deleting minors' personal information, and must not set unreasonable conditions;

(3) Where applications for minors or their guardians to access, copy, correct, supplement, or delete minors' personal information are promptly accepted and handled, and requests for minors or their guardians to exercise their rights are rejected, the applicant shall be notified in writing and the reasons explained.

Where requests for the transfer of minors' personal information submitted by minors or their guardians in accordance with law meet the requirements provided by the state internet information departments, the personal information handlers shall provide channels for the transfer.

Article 35: Where leakage, alteration, or loss of minors' personal information occurs or may occur, personal information handlers shall immediately initiate emergency response plans for personal information security incidents, employ remedial measures, promptly report to internet information and other departments, and follow relevant national provisions to inform affected minors and their guardians of the circumstances of the incident by email, letter, telephone, information push, and other such means.

Where it is difficult for personal information handlers to inform one by one, they shall employ reasonable and effective methods to promptly release relevant warning information, except as otherwise provided by laws and administrative regulations.

Article 36: Personal information handlers shall strictly set access rights to information and control the scope of knowledge of minors' personal information based on the principle of minimum authorization. Where staff access minors' personal information, they shall go through the approval of the relevant responsible party or their authorized management personnel, record the visit, and employ technical measures to avoid illegal handling of minors' personal information.

Article 37: Personal information handlers shall conduct annual compliance audits of their compliance with laws and administrative regulations in handling minors' personal information, and promptly report the audit to internet information and other departments.

Article 38: Where network service providers discover that minors' private information or personal information published by minors through the network involves private information, they shall promptly prompt and employ necessary protective measures such as stopping transmission to prevent the spread of information.

Where network service providers discover through minors' private information that minors may have suffered harm, they shall immediately employ necessary measures to preserve relevant records and report to the public security organs.

Chapter V: Prevention and Control of Internet Addiction

Article 39: Prevention and intervention in minors' addiction to the Internet shall comply with laws, administrative regulations, and relevant state provisions.

Departments such as for education, health, and market supervision and administration are to supervise and administer institutions engaged in prevention and intervention activities for minors' addiction to the Internet on the basis of their respective duties.

Article 40: Schools shall strengthen guidance and training for teachers, increasing teachers' ability to identify and intervene early in minor students' addiction to the Internet. For minor students who have a tendency to become addicted to the Internet, schools shall promptly inform their guardians, jointly educate and guide minor students, and help them resume normal study and life.

Article 41: Guardians of minors shall guide minors' safe and reasonable use of the Internet, paying attention to minors' online use and related physiological conditions, psychological conditions, and behavioral habits, preventing minors' exposure to online information that harms or may affect their physical and mental health, reasonably arranging the time for minors to use the Internet, and preventing and interfering with minors' addiction to the Internet.

Article 42: Providers of network products and services shall establish and complete systems for preventing addiction, must not provide minors with products and services that induce their addiction, promptly revise the content, functions, and rules that may cause minors' addiction, and annually announce to the public the situation of addiction prevention efforts, and accept social oversight.

Article 43: Online service providers such as online games, online live streaming, online audio and video, and online social networking shall address the characteristics of minors of different ages using their services, adhere to the principles of integration, friendliness, practicality, and effectiveness, set up models for minors, provide corresponding services in accordance with relevant national provisions and standards in terms of time slots, duration, functions, and content, and provide guardians with functions such as time management, authority management, and consumption management in a conspicuous and convenient manner for guardians to perform guardianship duties.

Article 44: Online service providers such as online games, online live streaming, online audio and video, and online social networking shall employ measures to reasonably limit the amount of single consumption and cumulative daily consumption of minors at different ages in their use of their services, and must not provide minors with paid services that are inconsistent with their capacity for civil conduct.

Article 45: Online service providers such as online games, online live streaming, online audio and video, and online social networking shall employ measures to prevent and resist negative value tendencies such as traffic supremacy, and must not set up online communities, groups, or topics with themes such as fundraising, voting, and volume control and evaluation, and must not induce minors to participate in online activities such as fundraising, voting, and ratings, and prevent and stop their users from inducing minors to carry out the above-mentioned conduct.

Article 46: Online gaming service providers shall verify the true identity information of minor users through necessary means such as uniform electronic identity authentication systems for online games for minors.

Network product and service providers must not provide minors with game account rental and sales services.

Article 47: Online gaming service providers shall establish and improve game rules to prevent minors from indulging in the Internet, to avoid minors' exposure to game content or game functions that may affect their physical and mental health.

Online gaming service providers shall implement age-appropriate prompting requirements, categorizing game products based on the characteristics of minors' physical and mental development and cognitive abilities at different ages, by assessing elements such as the type, content, and functions of game products, clarifying the age stage of minors for which game products are suitable, and giving conspicuous prompts in places such as user downloads, registrations, and login interfaces.

Article 48: Departments such as for press and publication, education, health, culture and tourism, radio and television, and internet information shall periodically carry out publicity and education on preventing minors' addiction to the Internet, overseeing and inspecting the performance of network product and service providers' obligations to prevent minors' addiction to the Internet, guiding families, schools, and social organizations to cooperate with each other, employing scientific and reasonable methods to prevent and intervene in minors' addiction to the Internet.

The state press and publication departments take the lead in organizing and carrying out efforts to prevent and treat minors' addiction to online games, and work with relevant departments to draft management provisions on the time period, duration, and consumption limits of providing online gaming services to minors.

Departments such as for health and education are to guide relevant medical and health institutions, schools of higher learning, and so forth on the basis of their respective duties, to carry out basic research on mental disorders and psychological and behavioral problems caused by minors' addiction to the Internet, and applied research such as screening and evaluation, diagnosis, prevention, and intervention.

Article 49: It is strictly forbidden for any organization or individual to interfere with minors' addiction to the Internet or infringe upon minors' lawful rights and interests by abusing or coercing or other methods that harm minors' physical and mental health.

Chapter VI: Legal Liability

Article 50: Where local people's governments at all levels and relevant departments at the county level or above violate the provisions of these Regulations by not performing duties to protect minors online, the organ at the level above is to order corrections; Where corrections are refused or the circumstances are serious, the responsible leaders and directly responsible personnel are to be given sanctions in accordance with law.

Article 51: Where schools, communities, libraries, cultural centers, youth palaces, and so forth violate the provisions of these Regulations by not performing duties to protect minors online, the departments for education, culture, tourism, and so forth are to order corrections on the basis of their respective duties; Where corrections are refused or the circumstances are serious, the responsible leaders and directly responsible personnel are to be given sanctions in accordance with law.

Article 52:Where guardians of minors fail to perform guardianship duties as provided for in these Regulations or infringe upon the lawful rights and interests of minors, the residents' committee, villagers' committee, women's federation of the minor's place of residence, the guardian's unit, primary and secondary schools, kindergartens, and other units that have close contact with minors are to criticize and educate, admonish, stop, or urge them to accept family education guidance in accordance with law.

Article 53:Where article 7, the third paragraph of article 19, or the second paragraph of article 38 of these Regulations are violated, departments such as for internet information, press and publication, film, education, telecommunications, public security, civil affairs, culture and tourism, market supervision and management, radio and television, and so forth are to order corrections on the basis of their respective duties; Where corrections are refused or the circumstances are serious, a fine of between 50,000 and 500,000 RMB is given, and a fine of between 10,000 and 100,000 RMB is given to the directly responsible managers and other directly responsible personnel.

Article 54:Where the provisions of the first paragraph of article 20 of these Regulations are violated, departments such as for internet information, press and publication, telecommunications, public security, culture and tourism, and radio and television are to order corrections, give warnings, and confiscate unlawful gains on the basis of their respective duties; Where corrections are refused, a fine of not more than 1 million RMB is to be given, and a fine of between 10,000 and 100,000 RMB is to be imposed on the directly responsible managers and other directly responsible personnel.

Where the violations of items 1 and 5 of the first paragraph of article 20 of these Regulations are serious, the provincial-level departments such as for internet information, press and publication, telecommunications, public security, culture and tourism, radio and television are to order corrections, confiscate unlawful gains, and give a fine of up to 50 million yuan or less than 5 percent of the previous year's turnover, and may order the suspension of relevant operations or suspend business for rectification, and notify the relevant departments to revoke relevant business permits or business licenses in accordance with law; Directly responsible managers and other directly responsible personnel are to be fined between 100,000 and 1 million RMB, and may decide to prohibit them from serving as directors, supervisors, senior management personnel and persons in charge of the protection of minors of relevant enterprises for a certain period of time.

Article 55:Where articles 24 and 25 of these Regulations are violated, departments such as for internet information, press and publication, film, telecommunications, public security, culture and tourism, market supervision and management, radio and television are to order corrections within a time limit, give warnings, confiscate unlawful gains, and may also give a fine of up to 100,000 RMB; Where corrections are refused or the circumstances are serious, it shall be ordered to suspend relevant operations, suspend production or business, or revoke relevant business permits or business licenses, and where the unlawful gains are more than 1 million yuan, a fine of between 1 and 10 times the unlawful gains shall be imposed concurrently, and where there are no unlawful gains or the unlawful gains are less than 1 million yuan, a fine of between 100,000 and 1 million yuan shall be given.

Article 56:Where the provisions of the second and third paragraphs of article 26, article 28, the first paragraph of article 29, the second paragraph of article 31, article 36, the first paragraph of article 38, articles 42 to 45, the second paragraph of article 46, or article 47 of these Regulations are violated, departments such as for internet information, press and publication, film, education, telecommunications, public security, culture and tourism, radio and television are to order corrections, give warnings, confiscate unlawful gains, and unlawful gains of more than 1 million yuan A fine of between 1 and 10 times the unlawful gains shall be imposed concurrently, and where there are no unlawful gains or the unlawful gains are less than 1 million RMB, a fine of between 100,000 and 1 million RMB shall be imposed concurrently, and a fine of between 10,000 and 100,000 RMB shall be imposed on the directly responsible managers and other directly responsible personnel; Where corrections are refused or the circumstances are serious, they may be ordered to suspend relevant operations, suspend business for rectification, close down websites, revoke relevant business permits, or revoke business licenses.

Article 57:Where network product and service providers violate the provisions of these Regulations by being punished by closing websites, revoking relevant business permits, or revoking business licenses, they must not reapply for relevant permits within 5 years, and their directly responsible managers and other directly responsible personnel must not engage in similar network product and service business for 5 years.

Article 58:Where these Regulations are violated, infringe upon the lawful rights and interests of minors, or cause harm to minors, bear civil liability in accordance with law; Where a violation of public security administration is constituted, public security administration punishments shall be given in accordance with law; Where a crime is constituted, criminal responsibility shall be pursued in accordance with law.

Chapter VII Supplementary Provisions

Article 59: "Smart terminal products" as used in these Regulations refers to network terminal products such as mobile phones and computers that can access the network, have operating systems, and can be installed by users themselves.

Article 60 These Regulations shall take effect on January 1, 2024.