Protecting Minors Online in the Digital Age: Tencent's Practices and Reflections

Protecting Minors Online in the Digital Age: Tencent's Practices and ReflectionsThe number of underage internet users in China has surpassed 196 million, highlighting the increasingly serious issue of online child protection. Strengthening this protection has become a shared responsibility and widespread consensus across society

Protecting Minors Online in the Digital Age: Tencent's Practices and Reflections

The number of underage internet users in China has surpassed 196 million, highlighting the increasingly serious issue of online child protection. Strengthening this protection has become a shared responsibility and widespread consensus across society. On November 21st, 2024, this topic was again center stage at the World Internet Conference Wuzhen Summit's forum on protecting minors online, held in Wuzhen, Zhejiang. Themed "Responsibility and Challenges of Protecting Minors in the Digital Age," the forum aimed to foster dialogue, strengthen multi-party governance and coordination mechanisms, address the new challenges posed by new technologies, and explore how technology can empower the healthy development of young people.

Experts, scholars, corporate representatives, and government officials gathered at the forum to discuss effective strategies and practical experiences in protecting minors online. Tencent Group Senior Vice President, Kai Tian Guo, delivered a keynote speech as a corporate representative, articulating Tencent's practices and reflections on minor online protection using the three keywords: "guarding," "development," and "co-governance."

Guo first elaborated on "guarding." He noted that Tencent has established a comprehensive risk governance system for minors encompassing all scenarios, processes, and modalities. This system is not merely a collection of technical measures, but includes a full lifecycle management process spanning risk identification, early warning, and intervention. Its core lies in using advanced technology to accurately identify and promptly warn of potential risks, and employing multi-modal interventions to effectively reduce the likelihood of minors being exposed to online risks. The "Tencent Healthy System" exemplifies this, with its strict anti-addiction mechanisms effectively controlling minors' gaming time and preventing internet addiction. The system's design aims to minimize minors' exposure to harmful information and cyberbullying, safeguarding their healthy growth.

Next, Guo discussed the importance of "development." He emphasized that online child protection shouldn't solely focus on risk control, but also on guiding minors to use the internet healthily and safely. To this end, Tencent actively undertakes various public welfare initiatives, including the "Protective Sprout Project," "Guardian Plan," "Tencent Security," and "WeChat Green Sprout Open Class." These programs aim to enhance minors' online safety awareness, teaching them to identify online risks and acquire safe internet usage skills. Through entertaining and educational methods, these projects guide minors to establish correct online values and cultivate good online behavior, better adapting them to life in the digital age. This is not only Tencent's responsibility, but also a commitment to future generations.

Finally, Guo highlighted "co-governance" as crucial for online child protection. He pointed out that this is not a task for a single entity, but requires the joint efforts of government, businesses, schools, families, and society as a whole. Tencent actively builds platforms like the "Minor Protection Camp" and "Tencent Growth Guardian," fostering communication and bringing together domestic and international resources and expertise to build a community for online child protection. This reflects Tencent's proactive approach to social responsibility and provides valuable experience for other companies involved in online child protection. This multi-party co-governance model creates a strong synergy to more effectively address the increasingly complex online environment and safeguard the online safety of minors.

In his concluding remarks, Guo stated that online child protection is a global challenge in the digital age. Governments, businesses, schools, families, and society must work together to build a safe, healthy, and positive online environment. He expressed Tencent's commitment to continuous investment in online child protection and called on all sectors of society to join forces, allowing the light of technology to illuminate the growth path of every child. This is not only a reflection of corporate social responsibility, but also a safeguard for the nation's future and its people's hopes.

Tencent's practices provide valuable experience for other companies engaged in online child protection. Its comprehensive, full-process, multi-modal risk governance system and its integrated strategy focused on "guarding," "development," and "co-governance" are worth learning from and emulating. We hope that more companies will actively participate in online child protection efforts, contributing to the creation of a clear and positive online space. Only through the combined efforts of the entire society can we build a truly safe, healthy, and harmonious online environment where children can grow up happily and healthily in the digital age. This is not only about the happiness of each family, but also about the future of the nation.

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