China Rectifies Online Live Streaming, Prohibits Tipping Function for Under 8s

SHANGHAI (CNA) -- China's Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) today issued the 'Notice on Strengthening the Regulation and Management of Online Live Streaming Tipping,' requiring platforms to improve protection mechanisms for minors regarding tipping functions. Online platforms are prohibited from offering tipping services to minors under 8 years old.

The CAC's official website today released the 'Notice on Strengthening the Regulation and Management of Online Live Streaming Tipping,' which contains 11 articles.

The articles detail regulations on 'tipping rules,' 'opening tipping monetization permissions,' 'tipping limit functions,' 'tipping reminder functions,' 'tipping amount rankings,' 'tipping interaction,' 'negative list of tipping monetization behaviors,' 'identification and handling of abnormal tipping,' 'complaint and reporting acceptance mechanisms,' and 'establishing a normalized governance mechanism.'

In the section on 'improving minor protection mechanisms,' online platforms are prohibited from offering tipping services to minors under 8 years old. For minors aged 8 to under 16, parental consent must be obtained before offering tipping services. For minors over 16, parental consent or income verification must be obtained before offering tipping services.

The CAC stated in a Q&A with reporters that tipping is currently one of the main monetization methods for online live streaming, but it has also led to problems such as inducing and deceiving users into tipping. Some online platforms lack regulations for tipping functions and gameplay, and management standards vary, leading to widespread chaos in tipping. Therefore, it is necessary to introduce management policies.

The CAC pointed out that this wave of regulations particularly focuses on issues such as inducing and deceiving minors into tipping, and stimulating irrational tipping by users. Combining the experience from last year's 'Qinglang: Rectifying Chaos in Online Live Streaming Tipping' special action, targeted management requirements have been proposed to make this policy more aligned with practical situations. (Editor: Chou Hui-ying) 1150413

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