Chinese regulators draft ‘youth mode’ requirement for online games and more

It appears that China’s gaming industry still hasn’t come close to hitting rock bottom. According to the South China Morning Post, China’s Cyberspace Administration (CAC) has drafted yet another round of restrictions on online services from games to streaming to social media.

The government is essentially requiring companies to create a “youth mode” that will limit the amount of time and money minors can spend on these platforms. SCMP notes several gaming companies and social media groups in China lost significant stock value on the news, though of course there’s quite a bit more behind yesterday’s large market dip in China than just that. Either way, it’s not the first time Tencent et al. have lost domestic stock value because of the Chinese government’s regulatory incursions.

Readers will recall – and if they don’t recall, there’s a huge list of stories below to jog their recollection – that China has been cracking down on all things internet, including online gaming, for many years now; it’s repeatedly frozen new game approvals, attempted to root out sex and LGBTQ representation, limited minors’ gametime, introduced age tiering for games, and blasted gaming as “spiritual opium.”