China may use facial recognition to stop kids from livestreaming

If you’re under 18 in China and want to play one of the most popular mobile games in the world, Honor of Kings (aka Arena of Valor), you will need to pass an AI facial recognition test. Soon, even tuning into livestreamed videos might require the same.

The idea isn’t coming from parents worried about how their kids are spending time. The proposal was brought up during China’s annual parliamentary meetings last week by the All-China Youth Federation (ACYF) – a Communist Party organization promoting the study of Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, and all that fun stuff young people like. Or not.

Facial recognition was just one suggestion the ACYF put forward as a way to regulate one of China’s most popular time-killers. The organization called for a complete ban on minors hosting livestreams, as well as using big data or random checks to track them down.

China’s biggest game publisher Tencent introduced facial recognition to verify the identity of Honor of Kings players and to limit their game time in December last year. After years of heavy criticism, the system was set up to prevent minors from spending too much time on the game – which at one point was described by Chinese state media as “poison.” (By the way, kids in China are already coming up with hilariously unsuccessful tactics to cheat the system.)

Photo credit: Arena of Valor

Livestreaming is another hugely popular activity among kids in China – around 45 percent of the country’s livestreaming users are school children, according to numbers compiled by the Communist Youth League Central Committee. Its popularity has brought a fair share of criticism from the government – including outright bans on certain content.

“Teenagers, especially minors, are in a critical period of developing their moral habits,” the ACYF wrote in its proposal. “Their ability to differentiate is not strong, and watching these kinds of livestreams can lead them to mistakenly believe that this kind of behavior will ‘make them famous’ and earn money – they will even copy it. This has a tremendously negative impact on the formation of their values.”

The arguments dovetail with global concerns over how to keep children safe online. At the end of February, YouTube decided to block comments on videos featuring minors that were uploaded to its website over concerns of a pedophile ring. Short-video app TikTok, the heir to Musical.ly, had to spend US$5.7 million to settle accusations that it violated children’s privacy laws.

China has not been spared scandals ,either. Last year saw short-video app Meipai ban minors after primary schoolchildren were caught broadcasting nudity online. Several Chinese livestreaming platforms have drawn criticism for indecent content, including sexy banana eating and skimpy clothes. And let’s not forget the teenage girl who managed to spend US$73,000 from her mother’s account on gifts for livestreaming hosts.

But regulators in China have also made it clear that other types of content are considered undesirable, including making fun of history and showing teenage moms.

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