yteDance began a TikTok-like service for China s youth who sets strict controls on daily usage after Beijing stepped up efforts to protect minors from the Internet risks.
The app, called Xiao Qu Xing or Little Fun Star, offers a short feed of personalized videos in areas ranging from science to literature and art history. Users are allowed to share pictures but not upload or download them, while parents can adjust the usage time for their kids to at least 40 minutes per day.
China s government seeks to enforce far-reaching rules on the algorithms that tech companies use to recommend videos and other content while top officials and state media alike have trained their sights on the amount of time that teenagers spend on smartphones. Regulators have extended the gaming time to three hours a week as of first Monday this month, triggering fears that similar rules may be applied for other digital content.
Douyin, TikTok’s Chinese twin, updated its youth mode last week to limit unlimited daily use time to a maximum of 40 minutes for those aged below 14 while banning them from accessing the app from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.
Xiao Qu Xing was founded by the education arm of ByteDance, which earlier this year closed a significant part of its operations after Beijing cracked down on the $100 billion after-school tutoring industry.