Tech Shares Tumble as China Announces Two-Hour Daily Limit on Children’s Screen Time

Following the draft release for China’s daily screen time limit, share prices for major companies including Bilibili, Kuaishou and WeChat fell down by 6.98%, 3.53% and 2.99% respectively

The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) released a draft containing new screen time limits for all childrens under the age of 18, restricting them to a maximum of 2 hours of phone screen time, causing a massive drop in tech share prices.

As per the newly drafter guidelines, childrens under the age of 8 would only be allowed to use phones for 40 minutes a day, childrens between the age of 8 and 16 would be allowed to use their phones for an hour a day, whereas teenagers between 16 to 18 would be allowed two hours of daily screen time.

China’s Cyberspace Administration plans to implement these new rules by asking phone companies to include what’s known as ‘minor mode programs’ inside their devices; these programs are apparently designed to implement the screen time rules, while also stopping under 18 users from accessing their mobile devices from 10 pm to 6 am.

CAC, however, has also included that service providers should allow parents to opt out of the time limits for their young ones”.

While Chinese regulators have their own reasons for the new limits, Chinese technology businesses and their investors are not happy with the decision.

Following the draft release, share prices for major companies including Bilibili, Kuaishou and WeChat fell down by 6.98%, 3.53% and 2.99% respectively.

Xia Hailong, a lawyer at Shanghai Shenlun law firm has termed the new screen time laws as a “headache for the internet companies’.

“A lot of effort and additional costs to properly implement these new regulatory requirements, and the risk of non-compliance will also be very high. So I believe that many internet companies may consider directly prohibiting minors from using their services,” he added.

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