(Yicai) May 29 -- The Beijing Internet Court, which deals with internet and intellectual property rights disputes, has handled nearly 700 cases of excessive spending on online gaming and livestreaming by underage children in the past three years.

These cases expose a trend of ever-larger online spending by increasingly younger consumers, with the average per case exceeding CNY80,000 (USD11,105), Jiang Ying, president of the Beijing Internet Court, said at a press conference yesterday. One case topped CNY3.1 million (USD430,300), she added.

Established in 2018, the Beijing Internet Court is the first specialized judicial authority in China to handle cases related to online consumption by minors. Although most internet platforms have brought in technical measures to restrict underage spending, some remain superficial and have failed to eliminate such cases.

By way of illustration, Jiang said in one case a minor spent more than CNY40,000 on a game in a single evening, while in another, an underage child was deceived by a live-stream host into gifting CNY80,000.

The court has released guidelines to promote online literacy among minors to prevent such cases, Jiang said. These guidelines remind parents to help their children to form rational spending habits, clearly set internet usage time, content access, and device use, and cultivate self-management awareness, she added.

Jiang stressed that parents should ensure proper management of online account security, regularly check account activity, and set spending limits by activating “minor modes” on platforms.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Martin Kadiev