BEIJING, March 14 (TMTPOST)— Shares of tech giants in China took another beating after the country’s top  internet regulator showed further regulation effort to protect minors.

Source: Visual China

Hong Kong-listed shares of Meituan, the largest food delivery platform in China, and Tencent Holdings Ltd, the world's largest video game vendor, fell about 16.8% and 8.9% respectively on Monday. Meituan’s shares settled at the lowest since May 12, 2020 while Tencent’s saw the lowest close since December 15, 2019. Their peers listed in the United States also sank. American depository receipts (ADPs) of e-commerce giant Pinduoduo plunged about 20%, and ADPs of two rivals Alibaba and JD.com each dropped more than 10%. The Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index, which tracks China-exposed firms listed in the United States, tumbled more than 11.7% that day, with a nearly 42% plummet to the date this year. 

Earlier that day, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) disclosed a draft of Regulations on the Protection of Minors Online to solicit public comment. The draft was crafted on public feedback from newly amended laws including Law on Protection of Minors and Personal Information Protection Law, CAC said. Through the new regulations, Chinese government seeks to reinforce anti-addiction management on minors’ online entertainment after it has imposed the world’s strictest limits on video games last year. Young gamers under age 18 can only play games one hour in the evening on Fridays, weekends and public holidays following the time limits that Tencent and other Chinese online gaming firms started to implement from last September.

According to the new regulation draft, providers of online gaming, live-streaming, online audios and videos and other internet services shall set a youth mode in accordance with the national standards and regulations on time limits, limits at certain hours and other restrictions, and offer features for screen time limit, access permission and other managements for minors’ parents and other guardians. These internet firms are required to curb minors’ daily spending amount on online products or services, and they are not allowed for charging beyond minors’ appropriate capacities for civil acts. As part of crackdown on celebrity and fan culture, these online service providers shall prevent their users to encourage minors to join in online activities such as crowd-funding for support of idols, voting for favorite idols on the popularity list or their works in the industry ranking, affecting the public impression of idols by posting overwhelmingly favorable comments.

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