CN Minors Internet Use Provisions (draft)
State Council Provisions on Ensuring Minors' Healthy and Safe Use of the Internet (Draft for Comment) (国务院关于保障未成年人健康安全使用网络的规定（征求意见稿）)
Draft State Council regulation that would bar network service providers from offering minors virtual intimate-relationship services (virtual relatives, virtual partners), stranger social networking and addiction-inducing services, and would require services for under-16s, including AI services that may affect minors' cognition, to be delivered through a filed "minor mode". Adds a duty to intervene and contact a guardian or emergency contact when a minor user is found in a self-harm or suicide situation.
Jurisdiction
China
Enacted
Pending
Effective
TBD
Enforcement
Cyberspace Administration of China with press and publication, telecommunications, public security, culture and tourism, market regulation and radio and television authorities, each within its remit
Draft State Council administrative regulation published for public comment by the Cyberspace Administration of China on September 18, 2026; comments close October 17, 2026. Article 25 leaves the commencement date blank ("自2026年 月 日起施行"). Requires State Council adoption before it has legal effect.
CAC notice soliciting public comment, with draft text and explanatory note (September 18, 2026)Why It Matters
Would make the minors' ban on virtual partner and virtual relative services a general State Council rule across all network services, with an explicit self-harm intervention and guardian-contact duty and turnover-linked fines, rather than a rule specific to anthropomorphic AI providers.
Recent Developments
Published for comment September 18, 2026 with comments due October 17, 2026. The draft raises to State Council regulation level a prohibition that already applies to anthropomorphic AI services under the CAC Interim Measures in force since July 15, 2026 (Article 14 of those measures bars virtual intimate-relationship services for minors), and extends it to all network service providers, device makers and app stores. Draft Article 24 lets the CAC and State Council departments adjust the Article 4 and 5 service lists.
At a Glance
Applies to
Harms addressed
Who Must Comply
- Network service providers offering services to minors in the People's Republic of China, including AI service providers
- Manufacturers of smart terminal devices
- Application distribution platforms (app stores)
Obligations fall on:
Applicability thresholds:
Safety Provisions
- Article 4: network service providers may not offer minors stranger social networking (except to 16-17 year-olds whose main income is their own labour), virtual intimate-relationship services such as virtual relatives and virtual partners, services that induce addiction or seriously affect minors' physical and mental health, or livestream broadcasting to under-16s
- Article 5: online audio-video, non-broadcasting livestream, online games, social networking, and AI services that may affect minors' cognition must be provided to under-16s through a minor mode
- Article 6: providers must be able to identify minor users (legal ID documents, national network identity authentication, distributed digital identity, non-stored one-time face verification, behavioural-feature recognition)
- Article 7(3): content harmful to minors may not be presented in minor mode; where a minor user is found in an extreme situation threatening life or health such as self-harm or suicide, the provider must take necessary intervention measures and promptly contact the guardian or emergency contact
- Article 8: algorithm-mechanism review, science-and-technology ethics review and content management systems required; algorithm models that induce minors' emotional dependence, addiction or excessive spending are prohibited
- Article 9: users verified or identified as minors must be denied Article 4 services and switched to minor mode for Article 5 services, with an appeal channel
- Article 10: smart-device manufacturers must build linked minor mode, one-tap switching, exit verification and anti-circumvention; app stores must assess age suitability and restrict downloads of unsuitable apps
- Article 12: minor-mode settings must be filed with provincial cyberspace offices; platforms with very large numbers of minor users file with the national CAC and report annually
Compliance & Enforcement
Penalties
CNY 1M; license revocation
View on map
China
Focus Areas
Cite This
APA
China. (n.d.). State Council Provisions on Ensuring Minors' Healthy and Safe Use of the Internet (Draft for Comment) (国务院关于保障未成年人健康安全使用网络的规定（征求意见稿）).
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Last updated September 27, 2026. Verify against primary sources before relying on this information.