Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, October 24th Regulations on network protection of minors
Chapter I General Provisions
Article 1 These Regulations are formulated in accordance with the Law of People’s Republic of China (PRC) on the Protection of Minors, the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Cyber Security, the Law of People’s Republic of China (PRC) on the Protection of Personal Information and other laws in order to create a network environment conducive to the physical and mental health of minors and safeguard their legitimate rights and interests.
Article 2 The network protection of minors should adhere to the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), adhere to the socialist core values as the guide, adhere to the principle of being most beneficial to minors, adapt to the healthy development of minors’ physical and mental health and the laws and characteristics of cyberspace, and implement social co-governance.
Article 3 The national network information department is responsible for coordinating the network protection of minors and doing a good job in the network protection of minors according to its responsibilities.
The national press and publication, film departments and the State Council education, telecommunications, public security, civil affairs, culture and tourism, health, market supervision and management, radio and television and other relevant departments shall do a good job in the network protection of minors according to their respective responsibilities.
The local people’s governments at or above the county level and their relevant departments shall do a good job in the network protection of minors according to their respective responsibilities.
Article 4 The Communist Youth League, women’s federations, trade unions, disabled persons’ federations, committees for caring for the next generation, youth federations, students’ federations, young pioneers and other people’s organizations, relevant social organizations and grassroots mass autonomous organizations shall assist relevant departments in the network protection of minors and safeguard their legitimate rights and interests.
Article 5 Schools and families should educate and guide minors to participate in activities beneficial to their physical and mental health, use the Internet scientifically, civilly, safely and rationally, and prevent and intervene minors from indulging in the Internet.
Article 6 Internet products and services providers, personal information processors, manufacturers and sellers of intelligent terminal products shall abide by laws, administrative regulations and relevant provisions of the state, respect social ethics, abide by business ethics, be honest and trustworthy, fulfill the obligations of protecting minors’ networks, and assume social responsibilities.
Article 7 Internet products and services providers, personal information processors, manufacturers and sellers of intelligent terminal products shall accept the supervision of the government and society, cooperate with relevant departments to carry out supervision and inspection concerning the network protection of minors according to law, establish convenient, reasonable and effective channels for complaints and reports, publicize the channels and methods of complaints and reports in a prominent way, and accept and handle public complaints and reports in a timely manner.
Article 8 Any organization or individual who finds that it violates the provisions of these Regulations may complain and report to the relevant departments such as internet information, press and publication, film, education, telecommunications, public security, civil affairs, culture and tourism, health and hygiene, market supervision and management, radio and television, etc. The department that receives the complaint or report shall promptly deal with it according to law; If it does not belong to the responsibilities of this department, it shall be transferred to the competent department in time.
Article 9 Network-related industry organizations shall strengthen industry self-discipline, formulate relevant industry norms for minors’ network protection, guide their members to fulfill their obligations for minors’ network protection, and strengthen the network protection for minors.
Article 10 The news media shall publicize the laws, regulations, policies, measures, typical cases and relevant knowledge of minors’ network protection through news reports, special columns (programs) and public service advertisements, supervise the behaviors that infringe on minors’ legitimate rights and interests by public opinion, and guide the whole society to participate in minors’ network protection.
Article 11 The State encourages and supports the strengthening of scientific research and personnel training and international exchanges and cooperation in the field of network protection for minors.
Twelfth organizations and individuals that have made outstanding contributions to the network protection of minors shall be commended and rewarded in accordance with the relevant provisions of the state.
Chapter II Promotion of Network Literacy
Thirteenth the State Council education department should incorporate network literacy education into the content of school quality education, and work with the national network information department to develop the evaluation index of minors’ network literacy.
The education department should guide and support schools to carry out network literacy education for minors, and cultivate minors’ network security awareness, civilized literacy, behavior habits and protection skills around the formation of network moral awareness, the cultivation of network legal concept, the construction of network use ability and the protection of personal property safety.
Article 14 The people’s governments at or above the county level shall make scientific planning and rational distribution, promote the balanced and coordinated development of public welfare Internet access services, strengthen the construction of public cultural facilities providing public welfare Internet access services, and improve the Internet access conditions for minors.
The local people’s governments at or above the county level should provide high-quality online literacy education courses for students by equipping primary and secondary schools with instructors with corresponding professional abilities, purchasing services by the government or encouraging primary and secondary schools to purchase related services by themselves.
Article 15 Where schools, communities, libraries, cultural centers, youth palaces and other places provide Internet service facilities for minors, they should provide Internet guidance and a safe and healthy Internet environment for minors by arranging professionals, recruiting volunteers, installing network protection software for minors or taking other safety protection technical measures.
Article 16 Schools should incorporate the improvement of students’ network literacy into education and teaching activities, rationally use the network to carry out teaching activities, establish and improve the management system of students’ online access during school, standardize and manage the intelligent terminal products brought by underage students into schools according to law, help students develop good online habits, cultivate students’ awareness of network security and network rule of law, and enhance students’ ability to obtain, analyze and judge network information.
Seventeenth guardians of minors should strengthen the construction of family education, improve their own network literacy, standardize their own network use behavior, and strengthen the education, demonstration, guidance and supervision of minors’ network use behavior.
Article 18 The State encourages and supports the research, development, production and use of network protection software, intelligent terminal products, network technologies, products and services such as minors’ models and areas for minors, which are specially targeted at minors and adapt to the laws and characteristics of their physical and mental health development, so as to strengthen the construction and transformation of network barrier-free environment and promote minors to broaden their horizons, cultivate their sentiments and improve their quality.
Article 19 Network protection software for minors and intelligent terminal products specially designed for minors shall have the functions of effectively identifying illegal information and information that may affect minors’ physical and mental health, protecting minors’ personal information rights and interests, preventing minors from indulging in the network, and facilitating guardians to perform guardianship duties.
The national network information department shall, jointly with the relevant departments of the State Council, make clear the relevant technical standards or requirements of network protection software for minors and intelligent terminal products specially used for minors according to the needs of network protection for minors, and guide and supervise network-related industry organizations to evaluate the use effect of network protection software for minors and intelligent terminal products specially used for minors according to the relevant technical standards and requirements.
The manufacturer of intelligent terminal products shall install network protection software for minors before leaving the factory, or inform users of the installation channels and methods in a significant way. The seller of intelligent terminal products should inform the user of the installation of network protection software for minors, as well as the installation channels and methods in a significant way before the product is sold.
Guardians of minors should reasonably use and guide minors to use network protection software, intelligent terminal products, etc., and create a good home environment for network use.
Twentieth network platform service providers with a large number of minor users or significant influence on minor groups shall fulfill the following obligations:
(a) in the design, research and development, operation and other stages of network platform services, fully consider the characteristics of minors’ physical and mental health development, and regularly carry out the impact assessment of minors’ network protection;
(2) Providing a minor model or a minor area, etc. to facilitate minors to obtain products or services in the platform that are beneficial to their physical and mental health;
(3) Establish and improve the network protection compliance system for minors in accordance with state regulations, and set up an independent institution mainly composed of external members to supervise the network protection of minors;
(4) following the principles of openness, fairness and justice, formulating special platform rules, clarifying the obligations of minors’ network protection of products or service providers in the platform, and reminding minors’ users of their network protection rights and remedies for network infringement in a significant way;
(five) to stop providing services to the products or service providers in the platform that seriously infringe upon the physical and mental health of minors or infringe upon other legitimate rights and interests of minors in violation of laws and administrative regulations;
(six) to issue a special report on the social responsibility of minors’ network protection every year and accept social supervision.
The specific measures for the identification of network platform service providers with a huge number of minor users or significant influence on minor groups mentioned in the preceding paragraph shall be formulated separately by the national network information department in conjunction with relevant departments.
Chapter III Standardization of Network Information Content
Article 21 The State encourages and supports the production, reproduction, publication and dissemination of network information that promotes socialist core values, advanced socialist culture, revolutionary culture and excellent Chinese traditional culture, cultivates the sense of community of the Chinese nation, cultivates minors’ feelings about home and country and good moral character, guides minors to develop good living habits and behavior habits, and creates a clear network space and a good network ecology conducive to the healthy growth of minors.
Article 22 No organization or individual may produce, copy, publish or disseminate online information that contains contents that promote obscenity, pornography, violence, cults, superstitions, gambling, inducing self-mutilation, terrorism, separatism, extremism and so on, which are harmful to the physical and mental health of minors.
No organization or individual may produce, copy, publish, disseminate or hold pornographic network information about minors.
Article 23 If online products and services contain information that may cause or induce minors to imitate unsafe behaviors, commit behaviors that violate social ethics, generate extreme emotions, develop bad habits, etc., which may affect the physical and mental health of minors, organizations and individuals that produce, copy, publish and disseminate the information shall give a prominent prompt before the information is displayed.
The national network information department shall, jointly with the national press and publication, film department and the State Council education, telecommunications, public security, culture and tourism, radio and television departments, determine the specific types, scope, judgment standards and tips of information that may affect the physical and mental health of minors on the basis of the provisions of the preceding paragraph.
Article 24 No organization or individual may produce, copy, publish or disseminate the information that may affect the physical and mental health of minors as stipulated in the first paragraph of Article 23 of these regulations in the network products and services specially serving minors.
Network products and service providers are not allowed to present information that may affect the physical and mental health of minors as stipulated in the first paragraph of Article 23 of these regulations in key links such as the first screen of the home page, pop-ups, hot search, etc., which are in a prominent position of products or services and are easy to attract users’ attention.
Network products and service providers shall not conduct commercial marketing to minors through automated decision-making.
Twenty-fifth any organization or individual shall not send, push, trick or force minors to contact with network information that is harmful or may affect the physical and mental health of minors.
Twenty-sixth no organization or individual may insult, slander, threaten or maliciously damage the image of minors through the Internet in the form of words, pictures, audio and video.
Internet products and service providers should establish and improve the early warning, prevention, identification, monitoring and disposal mechanism of cyberbullying, set up functions and channels to facilitate minors and their guardians to keep records of cyberbullying and exercise their right to notify, and provide options to protect cyberbullying information such as shielding strangers, prohibiting reprinting or commenting on information published by themselves, and prohibiting sending information to themselves.
Network product and service providers should establish and improve the characteristic database of cyberbullying information, optimize relevant algorithm models, and strengthen the identification and monitoring of cyberbullying information by combining artificial intelligence, big data and other technical means with manual audit.
Article 27 No organization or individual may organize, instigate, coerce, seduce, cheat or help minors to commit illegal and criminal acts through the Internet in the form of words, pictures, audio and video.
Twenty-eighth online education network products and services providers serving minors shall provide corresponding products and services in accordance with laws, administrative regulations and relevant provisions of the state, and according to the physical and mental development characteristics and cognitive ability of minors at different ages.
Article 29 Network products and service providers shall strengthen the management of information released by users, take effective measures to prevent the production, copying, publishing and dissemination of information that violates the provisions of Articles 22, 24, 25, Paragraph 1 of Article 26 and Article 27 of these Regulations, and if they find information that violates the above provisions, they shall immediately stop transmitting relevant information and take measures such as deleting, shielding and disconnecting links to prevent the information from spreading. Keep relevant records, report to the network information, public security and other departments, and take warning, limiting functions, suspending services, closing accounts and other disposal measures for users who produce, copy, publish and disseminate the above information.
If the network product and service provider finds that the information published and disseminated by the user in the first paragraph of Article 23 of these regulations has not been significantly prompted, it shall give a prompt or notify the user to give a prompt; Without prompting, the information shall not be transmitted.
Article 30 If the national network information, press and publication, film departments and the State Council education, telecommunications, public security, culture and tourism, radio and television departments find information that violates the provisions of Articles 22, 24, 25, 26, paragraph 1, and 27 of these regulations, or if the information specified in Article 23, paragraph 1 of these regulations is not obviously prompted, they shall require the network product and service providers to deal with it in accordance with the provisions of Article 29 of these regulations; For the above-mentioned information from abroad, the relevant institutions shall be notified to take technical measures and other necessary measures to block the spread according to law.
Chapter IV Protection of Personal Information Network
Thirty-first network service providers to provide information dissemination, instant messaging and other services for minors, should be required to provide minors or their guardians with real identity information. If minors or their guardians do not provide the true identity information of minors, network service providers shall not provide relevant services for minors.
Webcast service providers shall establish a dynamic verification mechanism for the true identity information of webcasting publishers, and shall not provide webcast publishing services to minor users who do not meet the legal requirements.
Article 32 Personal information processors shall strictly abide by the provisions of the national network information department and relevant departments on the scope of necessary personal information of network products and services, and shall not force minors or their guardians to agree to the processing of unnecessary personal information, or refuse minors to use their basic functional services because minors or their guardians do not agree to the processing of unnecessary personal information of minors or withdraw their consent.
Article 33 Guardians of minors shall educate and guide minors to enhance their awareness and ability to protect personal information, master the scope of personal information, understand the security risks of personal information, guide minors to exercise their rights of consulting, copying, correcting, supplementing and deleting in personal information processing activities, and protect their personal information rights and interests.
Thirty-fourth minors or their guardians request to consult, copy, correct, supplement or delete the personal information of minors according to law, and the personal information processor shall abide by the following provisions:
(a) to provide convenient ways and means to support minors or their guardians to consult the types and quantities of personal information of minors, and not to restrict the reasonable requests of minors or their guardians;
(two) to provide convenient support for minors or their guardians to copy, correct, supplement and delete the personal information of minors, and not to set unreasonable conditions;
(3) Accepting and handling the application of minors or their guardians for consulting, copying, correcting, supplementing or deleting the personal information of minors in a timely manner, and refusing the request of minors or their guardians to exercise their rights, it shall inform the applicant in writing and explain the reasons.
If the request of minors or their guardians to transfer their personal information according to law meets the conditions stipulated by the national network information department, the personal information processor shall provide the means of transfer.
Article 35 Where the personal information of minors is leaked, tampered with or lost, the personal information processor shall immediately start the emergency plan for personal information security incidents, take remedial measures, report to the online information and other departments in time, and inform the affected minors and their guardians of the incident by mail, letter, telephone and information push in accordance with relevant state regulations.
If it is difficult for personal information processors to inform them one by one, they shall timely release relevant warning information in a reasonable and effective way, except as otherwise provided by laws and administrative regulations.
Thirty-sixth personal information processors should strictly set information access rights and control the scope of personal information of minors on the principle of minimum authorization. When a staff member accesses the personal information of a minor, it shall be approved by the relevant person in charge or its authorized management personnel, record the access, and take technical measures to avoid illegal handling of the personal information of the minor.
Article 37 A personal information processor shall conduct a compliance audit of its compliance with laws and administrative regulations in handling personal information of minors by itself or by entrusting a professional institution every year, and report the audit to the online information and other departments in a timely manner.
Thirty-eighth network service providers find that private information of minors or personal information released by minors through the network involves private information, they should promptly prompt and take necessary protective measures such as stopping transmission to prevent information from spreading.
If a network service provider discovers that minors may be infringed upon through their private information, it shall immediately take necessary measures to keep relevant records and report to the public security organ.
Chapter V Prevention and Control of Internet Addiction
Thirty-ninth prevention and intervention of minors’ internet addiction shall abide by laws, administrative regulations and relevant state regulations.
Education, health, market supervision and management departments shall, according to their respective responsibilities, supervise and manage institutions engaged in the prevention and intervention activities of minors’ internet addiction.
Fortieth schools should strengthen guidance and training for teachers, and improve teachers’ ability of early identification and intervention of underage students’ addiction to the Internet. For underage students who are addicted to the Internet, the school should inform their guardians in time to jointly educate and guide underage students and help them return to their normal study life.
Article 41 Guardians of minors should guide minors to use the Internet safely and reasonably, pay attention to minors’ online situation and related physiological status, psychological status and behavior habits, prevent minors from contacting network information that is harmful or may affect their physical and mental health, reasonably arrange minors’ time to use the Internet, and prevent and intervene minors from indulging in the Internet.
Article 42 providers of online products and services shall establish and improve the anti-addiction system, and shall not provide products and services to minors that induce them to indulge, timely modify the contents, functions and rules that may cause minors to indulge, and announce the anti-addiction work to the public every year and accept social supervision.
Article 43 Network service providers such as online games, live webcasts, online audio and video, and online social networking should adhere to the principles of integration, friendliness, practicality and effectiveness, set up a model for minors, provide corresponding services in terms of time, duration, functions and contents in accordance with relevant national regulations and standards, and provide time management, authority management, consumption management and other functions for guardians to perform their guardianship duties in an eye-catching and convenient way.
Article 44 Internet service providers such as online games, live webcasts, online audio and video, and online social networking shall take measures to reasonably limit the single consumption amount and single-day cumulative consumption amount of minors at different ages in using their services, and shall not provide paid services to minors that are inconsistent with their civil capacity.
Article 45 Internet service providers such as online games, live webcasts, online audio and video, and online social networking shall take measures to prevent and resist such negative value tendencies as the supremacy of traffic, and shall not set up online communities, groups, or topics with the theme of fund-raising for aid, voting for a list, and controlling the amount of money spent, and shall not induce minors to participate in online activities such as fund-raising for aid, voting for a list, and controlling the amount of money spent, and prevent and stop their users from inducing minors to carry out the above behaviors.
Forty-sixth online game service providers shall verify the true identity information of minor users through the unified e-authentication system for minor online games and other necessary means.
Network products and service providers shall not provide game account rental and sales services for minors.
Forty-seventh online game service providers should establish and improve the rules of the game to prevent minors from indulging in the network, and avoid minors from contacting game content or game functions that may affect their physical and mental health.
Online game service providers should implement the age-appropriate prompt requirements, classify game products according to the physical and mental development characteristics and cognitive ability of minors at different age stages, by evaluating the types, contents and functions of game products, and make clear the age stage of game products suitable for minor users, and give obvious prompts at the user’s download, registration, login interface and other positions.
Article 48 The departments of press and publication, education, health, culture and tourism, radio and television, and online information shall regularly carry out publicity and education to prevent minors from indulging in the Internet, supervise and inspect the fulfillment of the obligations of network products and service providers to prevent minors from indulging in the Internet, guide families, schools and social organizations to cooperate with each other, and take scientific and reasonable measures to prevent and intervene minors from indulging in the Internet.
The national press and publication department takes the lead in organizing the prevention and control of minors’ addiction to online games, and formulates management regulations on the time, duration and consumption ceiling of providing online game services to minors in conjunction with relevant departments.
Health, education and other departments shall, according to their respective responsibilities, guide relevant medical and health institutions, colleges and universities, etc., and carry out basic research on mental disorders and psychological and behavioral problems caused by minors’ internet addiction, and applied research on screening, evaluation, diagnosis, prevention and intervention.
Forty-ninth it is strictly forbidden for any organization or individual to interfere with minors’ addiction to the Internet and infringe on their legitimate rights and interests by abusing or coercing them.
Chapter VI Legal Liability
Fiftieth local people’s governments at all levels and relevant departments at or above the county level, in violation of the provisions of this Ordinance, do not perform the duties of network protection for minors, and their higher authorities shall order them to make corrections; Refuses to correct or if the circumstances are serious, the responsible leaders and persons directly responsible shall be punished according to law.
Fifty-first schools, communities, libraries, cultural centers, youth palaces, etc., in violation of the provisions of these regulations, do not perform the duties of network protection for minors, and the education, culture and tourism departments shall order them to make corrections according to their respective duties; Refuses to correct or if the circumstances are serious, the responsible leaders and persons directly responsible shall be punished according to law.
Article 52 If a guardian of a minor fails to perform the guardianship duties stipulated in these Regulations or infringes upon the legitimate rights and interests of the minor, the residents’ committee, villagers’ committee, women’s federation in the minor’s place of residence, the unit where the guardian works, primary and secondary schools, kindergartens and other units that are in close contact with the minor shall be criticized and educated, advised to stop and urged to receive family education guidance according to law.
Article 53 In case of violation of the provisions of Article 7, Paragraph 3 of Article 19 and Paragraph 2 of Article 38 of these Regulations, the departments of internet information, press and publication, film, education, telecommunications, public security, civil affairs, culture and tourism, market supervision and management, radio and television shall, according to their respective duties, order them to make corrections; Refuses to correct or if the circumstances are serious, a fine of 50,000 yuan to 500,000 yuan shall be imposed, and a fine of 10,000 yuan to 100,000 yuan shall be imposed on the directly responsible person in charge and other directly responsible personnel.
Fifty-fourth in violation of the provisions of the first paragraph of Article 20 of these regulations, by the network information, press and publication, telecommunications, public security, culture and tourism, radio and television and other departments according to their respective duties shall be ordered to make corrections, given a warning, confiscate the illegal income; Refuses to correct, and impose a fine of 1 million yuan, and impose a fine of 10,000 yuan to 100,000 yuan on the directly responsible person in charge and other directly responsible personnel.
In violation of the provisions of Item 1 and Item 5 of Paragraph 1 of Article 20 of this Ordinance, if the circumstances are serious, the departments of online information, press and publication, telecommunications, public security, culture and tourism, radio and television at or above the provincial level shall, according to their respective functions and duties, order them to make corrections, confiscate their illegal income, and impose a fine of less than 50 million yuan or less than 5% of the turnover of the previous year, and may also order them to suspend relevant business or suspend business for rectification, notify relevant departments to revoke their relevant business licenses or revoke their business licenses according to law; The directly responsible person in charge and other directly responsible personnel shall be fined from 100,000 yuan to 1 million yuan, and may decide to prohibit them from serving as directors, supervisors, senior managers and persons in charge of the protection of minors in relevant enterprises for a certain period of time.
Article 55 Anyone who violates the provisions of Article 24 and Article 25 of these regulations shall be ordered to make corrections within a time limit, given a warning, confiscated of his illegal income and may be fined not more than 100,000 yuan by the departments of internet information, press and publication, film, telecommunications, public security, culture and tourism, market supervision and management, radio and television, etc. according to their respective duties; Refuses to correct or if the circumstances are serious, it shall be ordered to suspend relevant business, suspend production or business, or revoke relevant business licenses and business licenses. If the illegal income is more than 1 million yuan, it shall be fined between 1 and 10 times the illegal income. If there is no illegal income or the illegal income is less than 1 million yuan, it shall be fined between 100,000 yuan and 1 million yuan.
Article 56 Anyone who violates the provisions of Article 26, paragraphs 2 and 3, Article 28, Article 29, paragraph 1, Article 31, paragraph 2, Article 36, Article 38, paragraph 1, Article 42 to Article 45, Article 46, paragraph 2 and Article 47 of these Regulations shall be ordered by the departments of internet information, press and publication, film, education, telecommunications, public security, culture and tourism, radio and television according to their respective functions and duties. If the illegal income is more than 1 million yuan, a fine of more than 1 time and less than 10 times shall be imposed; if there is no illegal income or the illegal income is less than 1 million yuan, a fine of more than 100,000 yuan and less than 1 million yuan shall be imposed, and a fine of more than 10,000 yuan and less than 100,000 yuan shall be imposed on the directly responsible person in charge and other directly responsible personnel; Refuses to correct or if the circumstances are serious, and may be ordered to suspend relevant business, suspend business for rectification, close the website, revoke the relevant business license or revoke the business license.
Article 57 If a provider of network products and services violates the provisions of these Regulations and is punished by closing the website, revoking the relevant business license or revoking the business license, it shall not reapply for the relevant license within five years, and its directly responsible person in charge and other directly responsible personnel shall not engage in similar network products and services within five years.
Fifty-eighth in violation of the provisions of this Ordinance, infringe upon the legitimate rights and interests of minors, causing damage to minors, shall bear civil liability according to law; If it constitutes a violation of public security administration, it shall be punished according to law; If a crime is constituted, criminal responsibility shall be investigated according to law.
Chapter VII Supplementary Provisions
Article 59 The term "intelligent terminal products" as mentioned in these Regulations refers to network terminal products such as mobile phones, computers, etc., which can access the network, have an operating system and can be installed by users themselves.
Article 60 These Regulations shall come into force as of January 1, 2024.