Internet mogul calls for online safety for minors
- By Guo Yiming
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E-mail China.org.cn, March 4, 2017
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Pony Ma, president of China's internet giant Tencent and also a deputy to the National People’s Congress (NPC), speaks at a press conference in Beijing on March 3, ahead of the annual NPC sessions. [Photo provided to China.org.cn] |
Internet companies, parents, schools and related government agencies should work closely to form a healthy internet environment for minors, according to the man behind China’s online giant Tencent Holdings.
Pony Ma, Tencent presidentas well as a deputy to the National People’s Congress (NPC), made the remark at a press conference on Friday as he elaborated on the seven proposals he plans to submit to the upcoming NPC sessions.
Last month, the Tencent Game website launched a supervisory platform to assist parents to monitor their children’s gaming activities. It is the first systematic response to the issue of online safety for under-aged internet users in China’s internet gaming industry.
It is partly in response to the emergence of mobile games that are hard for parents to spot, compared to the traditional PC games mostly available in internet bars, and partly to the popularity of online mobile payments, making money transactions easier andbetter able to be hidden via a smartphone, Ma explained.
“The watchdog might hurt our business, but I think it is totally worth it,” he said. “We have conducted thorough research during the development of this system, and will continue to shoulder due responsibility through providing ‘assistance/ supervision’ technology and tools for minors and their guardians.”
The Internet mogul called for allstakeholders in the issue, including internet companies, parents, schools and related government agencies, to work together to create a healthy surfing environment for youngsters and raise their self-protection awareness amid rising concernsover cybercrime, cyber-bullying and the spread of harmful online information.
China currently has 127 million internet users under 19 years of age, accounting for 23.4 percent of the overall online community.
According to a research report, about 9.72 percent of minors are internet addicts. Statistics published in 2011 indicated that 70 percent of the juvenile delinquency cases were caused by pornography and violent content circulating on the internet.
Internet addition may not necessarily lead to crime, but it is certainly a very important cause for juvenile delinquency, said Guo Kaiyuan, a law expert with the China Youth & Children Research Center.
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