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By Eva Dou and Li Yuan 

China has proposed strengthening its policies on internet safety for children, which could force technology companies to make substantial operational changes to meet the new requirements.

The draft rules would require online-game operators to lock out anyone under the age of 18 between midnight and 8 a.m. They would also call for an increased number of websites to post warnings about content deemed unsuitable for minors.

Few companies will criticize Chinese policies openly. However, industry experts said that a strict implementation of the proposed rules could also force foreign companies to use Chinese censorship software that they can't control and that could potentially serve as backdoors for Chinese surveillance.

The rules cover "smart devices," so they would affect all makers of computing devices sold in China, including Apple Inc., Dell Inc., HP Inc. and others.

The proposed regulations posted online Sept. 30 are vague as to whether companies' existing parental control systems would suffice or if they would have to use Beijing-approved software. The Cyberspace Administration of China, the country's internet regulator, said that it would support the development of web-filtering software to keep children safe online and would determine which products comply with its requirements.

The proposal is the latest in a string of measures requiring technology companies to help make China's web filters, known as the Great Firewall, more forbidding. Private tech companies are already required to police their own platforms for problematic content.

The draft rules contain echoes of China's attempt in 2009 to require all personal-computer makers to include Green Dam, controversial censorship software intended to shield children from inappropriate content. The requirement was quickly scrapped after it was met with widespread outcry over concerns that the software's functions were unclear and that it could be used for surveillance.

Industry experts, however, said the latest proposal so far appeared to be less alarming, with its vague wording leaving open the possibility that companies will be able to use in-house software, unlike in 2009. Companies such as Apple already have parental control settings installed on their devices. Apple said it couldn't comment on the rules as they aren't final. The rules are open for public comment until Oct. 31.

"Any policy which may require compulsory software installation does pose operational challenges to hardware manufacturers," said Jake Parker, vice president of China operations of the U.S.-China Business Council.

Some of China's new child-protection measures are similar to those in the West, such as "default-on" filtering of adult content for all internet connections in the U.K., said Oliver Farnan, a researcher at the Oxford Cyber Security Centre.

But if smartphone companies do end up having to preload government censorship software, it could aid Chinese censors in monitoring encrypted communications, which is one weakness in current surveillance, according to censorship experts. This had been a major concern regarding Green Dam.

"Protecting the well-being of China's youth is often used as a rationalization for far-reaching controls on media and information that impact all Chinese citizens," said David Bandurski, a researcher at the China Media Project.

Hu Miao, who has a 6-year-old daughter and lives in Beijing, said she would prefer the option of loading web-filtering software onto a phone herself, but said she could see the merits of preloaded software if it were a teenager buying a device.

"I think the most important thing is still good parenting," she said.

Internet companies might have to make only limited changes under the new rules as they already must block much content deemed inappropriate for minors--such as pornography, gambling and antigovernment messages--under existing laws.

Gaming companies are required to implement antiaddiction systems under current law, including limits on the amount of time minors can spend playing games, according to Beijing Kunlun Tech Co., a major online-game publisher. Blocking minors from playing after midnight wouldn't be difficult from a technical standpoint because companies already require players to provide verifiable personal information including their name and age, Kunlun said.

Baidu Inc., China's leading search engine, said Tuesday it has already invested heavily in recent years to clamp down on "unhealthy information."

"We will actively enforce the new regulations to protect our users, especially children," it said.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., which has approximately 500 million active users on its e-commerce and other platforms, and Tencent Holdings Ltd., China's largest social-network operator and online-gaming company, both said they always abide by local laws.

China has adopted increasingly strict controls over internet content in recent years, often in the name of national security or moral values. Some of the measures have led to serious headaches for foreign companies, such as requirements to prove products are safe through intrusive testing, while others have just emphasized standards already in place.

"Although these are definite expansions [from] those set out previously, there's nothing necessarily shocking there," said Mr. Farnan, the Oxford researcher.

--Alyssa Abkowitz and Juro Osawa contributed to this article.

Write to Eva Dou at eva.dou@wsj.com and Li Yuan at li.yuan@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 12, 2016 13:35 ET (17:35 GMT)

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