China's parents keen to have stronger internet safeguards for children

About 71 percent of Chinese parents suggest improvement to internet content meant for minors, the China Youth Daily reported, citing a recent survey.

The survey of 1,990 parents of minors, mostly living in urban areas, showed that nearly 80 percent of respondents use a content filter for their children who visit online platforms.

Around 44 percent of respondents think the content filters provided by online platforms are effective in preventing children from becoming hooked on the internet, while 24.4 percent disagree.

"Many online platforms now offer content filtering for teenagers. On some platforms, the filter option will pop up after login. Parents can turn on the filter before handing their mobile phones to their children," says Zhu Wei, an associate professor at China University of Political Science and Law.

A report by the China Internet Network Information Center showed that the number of young internet users in China reached 175 million in 2019.

Parents also had concerns about online safety and content design. Over 69 percent of respondents said children can manage to avoid the filter by logging into another account, and nearly 48 percent said the filter can be easily removed.

More than 70 percent of parents suggested more quality internet content for teenagers.

Another 56.2 percent believe parents should spend more time with their children to prevent them from getting addicted to the internet.

Xinhua