A new set of rules is proposed by China’s leading internet regulator that would prohibit companies from providing any AI “virtual relatives or companions” for those under 18 years old, as well as algorithms promoting emotional dependence or addiction among the youth. This draft was quickly distributed all over the web due to its alignment with the previously implemented limitations.
The new regulation, named the Interim Measures for the Administration of AI Anthropomorphic Interaction Services, came into force on July 15, 2026. The rules were issued by China’s Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) along with four other agencies in April.
Service providers are not allowed to provide their users under the age of 18 with any virtual relatives, virtual partners, or any other forms of virtual intimate relationships. For kids under the age of 14, other anthropomorphic services are only possible with the approval of guardians. The platforms have to operate “minors mode” with limits in time and the real-life reminder.
Major platforms including ByteDance’s Doubao, Alibaba’s Qwen, and Tencent’s Yuanbao suspended or restricted custom companion and agent features around the effective date.
On September 18, 2026, the CAC released a separate 25-article draft titled roughly “Provisions of the State Council on Ensuring Minors’ Healthy and Safe Use of the Internet.” It remains open for public comment until October 17, 2026. It is not yet final law.
The draft says network service providers must not offer minors virtual relatives, virtual partners, or other virtual intimate relationship services. It also bars services that induce addiction or may seriously affect minors’ physical or mental health, plus most stranger social networking (with a narrow exception for 16- and 17-year-olds who mainly support themselves through their own labor).
For users under 16, certain services including AI that could affect cognition would have to operate through a dedicated minors’ mode. Platforms would also be required to avoid algorithms designed to foster emotional dependence, addiction, or excessive consumption.
China Daily quoted expert Zheng Ning of Communication University of China:
“Virtual intimacy can easily lead children to form emotional attachments, blur the boundaries between virtual and real-life interpersonal relationships, interfere with their real-life social interactions and value recognition and potentially induce internet addiction and irrational spending.”
She noted the draft aligns with the July rules.
China had more than 200 million internet users aged 6–19 as of December 2025, according to official statistics.
Proponents view the restrictions as pragmatic child safety in an atmosphere with AI companions that may feel available always and attentive. Opponents are raising issues of age verification, privacy costs of more rigorous identification mechanisms, effective enforcement, and the possibility that they may ban tools for education and support.
The viral statement is mostly correct in substance; China bans AI virtual companions and dependency-inducing factors for children but the timeline and status need clarification. The prohibition on virtual sexual contact for people under 18 years has been already imposed by July regulation. The September paper is a much wider draft version that extends the regulations and that is open to public discussion.
It is important for the readers to understand that the text from September is still a draft proposal and not a complete ban implemented across the country. Also, one should distinguish the AI restriction rules from other regulations adopted two months ago.
