For almost every video game restriction, children and teenagers will find a way around it. Kids are getting smarter at beating simple access into supposedly restricted sites, but technology is constantly improving as well. Now with this new software, kids will find little room to create loopholes in the system.
Tencent, the multinational technology company, is going to implement facial recognition to prevent kids younger than 18 years old from playing video games late into the night. Its system, called "Midnight Patrol," will identify minors who are playing video games past the government implemented curfew - and kick them off the platform.
The system aims to prevent minors from posing as adults to comply with a Chinese ban on late-night gaming sessions. It will initially work across more than 60 Tencent titles, the Chinese tech giant said.
In 2019, China introduced rules to curb video-game playing over concerns that young people were becoming addicted. The rules included a ban on under-18s playing between 10pm and 8am, a maximum of 90 minutes of playing time on weekdays, and monthly caps.
Tencent said that it would conduct face-screening for accounts registered with real names that had played for a certain period of time at night, by comparing players' faces against a government database of faces linked to China's social security system. Adults who are mistakenly kicked off the platform will be able to submit a new face scan, but those who refuse to be scanned will be removed.
Chinese regulators have struggled to stay afloat with China’s enormous appetite for video games, especially those played on mobile phones, which have been blamed for issues such as online addiction and poor eyesight in young children.
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