China makes amendments in laws to protect minors online

The Standing Committee of the 13th National People’s Congress delegates 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 takes a closer scrutiny of people working with children and setting accountability of schools and business in protecting children, making sex education mandatory, put women in charge of sensitive cases where girls are involved, hold 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, for restricting the hours of gaming access of minors and restricts live streaming platforms from registering anyone under 16 years old.