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Douyin, TikTok's twin app in China, has begun restricting users below the age of 14 to just 40 minutes of screen time per day, and access to the app will be restricted during 10pm till 6am.

The platform dubbed the move as its most "stringent measure" thus far to "protect teenagers", and all teens below 14 years old will be automatically directed to a "youth mode" of the app, with no option to quit the mode.

According to the company's statement released on Chinese messaging app WeChat, the "youth mode" will feature curated content about "interesting experiments, museum and art exhibitions, beautiful sceneries across the country, historical facts, etc".

The company said the intention behind the move is to stimulate teens' interest in a certain field and allow them to "learn as (they) watch the videos".

Douyin added that they were the "first platform" to implement such a "stringent measure" among short-form video apps.

The "youth mode" of the app can be seen asking the user to "take a break", and states the time that the user can continue using the app.

ByteDance's educational arm makes similar app for kids

Meanwhile, TikTok's parent company, Bytedance, recently launched an app called "Xiao Qu Xing" (Little Fun Star) under its educational arm, with kids as their target audience, Time reported.

The educational app will reportedly feature a range of content including science, literature, and art history, in the form of short videos.

According to an article shared by Chinese news aggregator Sina, users of Douyin are allowed a screen time of 40 minutes on weekends, and 30 minutes on weekdays.

Amid the Chinese authorities' crackdown on the after-school tuition business, ByteDance laid off hundreds of employees under its education arm in August, Bloomberg reported.

Restricted game time for those under 18

On Sep. 1, Beijing implemented measures to restrict online gaming time for gamers under the age of 18.

According to state-run media Xinhua, China's National Press and Publication Administration stated that online game providers can only offer their services to gamers under 18 for one hour -- from 8pm to 9pm on Fridays, weekends, and public holidays.

The move is to prevent minors from "becoming addicted to online games", as per the statement.

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Top image via Weibo