China makes amendments to laws to protect minors online

The Standing Committee of the 13th National People’s Congress passed an amendment to China’s Law on the Protection of Minors by adding 60 new articles and updating some of the previous articles. The amended law will now include a new chapter dealing with online child protection and the rights of children online and is slated to come into effect on 1 June 2021. 

The new amendment addresses people working with children and establishes accountability measures for schools and business to protect children, including: making sex education mandatory, putting women in charge of sensitive cases where girls are involved, and holding schools, businesses, and online service providers responsible when young people are harmed under their watch. This includes establishing a unified electronic identity authentication system for online gaming, which will also limit the times when minors can access games and restrict  live streaming platforms from registering anyone under the age of 16 years.