Chinese technology shares fell after the country's cyberspace regulator recommended limiting smartphone usage of children under 18. Shares of firms like Alibaba and video-sharing site Bilibili fell on Wednesday and saw further losses on Thursday. The proposed law would see children being only allowed to use their phones for a maximum of two hours a day.
It comes four years after children in the world's second-largest economy were subject to gaming restrictions. The rules proposed by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), will also see children banned from accessing the internet on mobile devices from 22:00 to 06:00 local time.
The CAC's proposal requires industry players including mobile phone device makers, apps and app stores to develop a function called "minor mode" to set usage limits - which vary by age. While children between the ages of 16 to 18 will be allowed two hours of screen time a day, those under the age of eight will only be allotted eight minutes. The proposal is currently open to public feedback.
