When digital technology is deeply integrated into the learning, socializing, and growth of teenagers, how to build a safe and healthy online environment from the source has become a common concern for society. On June 1st, Tencent QQ held the "QQ New Bud Protection Action Launch and Youth Network Protection Symposium" in Beijing, officially announcing the upgrade of its years-long minor protection practices into the "QQ New Bud Protection Action." Through measures such as improving product function design, strengthening ecological governance, enriching safety education, and introducing expert collaboration, it continues to improve the minor protection system and enhance the level of youth network security protection.
Fang Zengquan, Director of the Center for Minors' Internet Literacy Research at the School of Journalism and Communication, Beijing Normal University, delivered a speech at the meeting, stating that with the deep penetration of artificial intelligence technology into the lives of teenagers, relying solely on restrictive and isolating defensive models is no longer sufficient to address complex online risks. "Children in the AI era are the future digital citizens and the main force in building the future world," he emphasized, "it is necessary to gather the efforts of platforms, multi-disciplinary experts, parents, and society to jointly form a support system for minors' online protection."
Multi-pronged Upgrades, QQ Builds a Comprehensive Minor Protection System
The "Fifth National Survey Report on the Internet Usage Situation of Minors" shows that the proportion of young internet users who consider themselves dependent on the internet continues to rise. The penetration of the internet into the lives of teenagers has shifted from "tool use" to "lifestyle integration," and single modular control is no longer sufficient to match increasingly complex online scenarios.
At the meeting, QQ announced the launch of the dedicated project for minor protection, "QQ New Bud Protection Action," which builds a comprehensive protection system covering products, content, ecology, and social forces, based on four pillars: product protection, ecological governance, safety education and care, and expert support.
"We hope that the minor mode is not just a wall of restrictions but an intelligent protection system that can sense risks, connect with parents, and accompany teenagers," said Nancy, the person in charge of the QQ minor product, at the meeting. Based on the plan of the "QQ New Bud Protection Action," the QQ minor mode will continue to iterate, further optimizing the guardian-related functions while improving time management, social rights management, payment limits, anti-addiction, and reducing distractions.
According to the introduction, under the QQ minor mode, guardians can classify and authorize access to web links and mini programs for teenagers, ensuring safety while meeting learning needs. The recently launched "Risk Behavior Notification" function sends notifications to the binding guardian account when the system detects potential social risks in the teenager's chat, reminding guardians to pay attention, communicate, and guide promptly.
At the same time, QQ has established the "Firefly Care Card" system — when teenagers search for risk keywords on QQ, the platform immediately pushes safety guidance and assistance resources, covering over 30 topics. In terms of content, QQ continues to introduce high-quality resources such as science and technology popularization and internet literacy to enrich the content pool for teenagers. The "QQ Cybersecurity Class" has already entered schools and communities in cities such as Beijing, Shenzhen, and Suzhou, enhancing teenagers' awareness of safe internet usage through a combination of online and offline methods.
AI Empowers Risk Prevention, the Seedling Guardian Achieves Intelligent Protection
With the rapid popularity of AI large model technology and various AI applications, the online usage scenarios for teenagers have become increasingly complex. According to Jing Linlin, the person in charge of QQ minor safety operations, to further strengthen the minor protection line, by empowering new technologies with AI, a full-chain intelligent defense system is being built that covers "technical capability upgrades, product function optimization, and continuous iteration operations." On one hand, based on users' social behavior characteristics and reports, multi-modal AI technology enhances the depth of risk perception, dynamically identifying harmful content; on the other hand, using intelligent agents to achieve human-machine collaborative judgment, identify hidden clues and potential high-risk users, and provide active warnings in scenarios such as search, adding friends, and payments, thus reducing the exposure of risks at the source. In the first quarter of this year, QQ processed more than 30,000 pieces of harmful information and inappropriate content, and dealt with over 300 accounts and group chats involving minors in violation.
In addition to improving safety strategies and protection measures, enhancing the self-protection awareness of teenagers is also crucial. At the meeting, the "QQ Seedling Guardian Assistant" was announced to be upgraded. According to Wu Zhaomiao, the person in charge of the QQ Seedling Guardian Assistant operations, it is an intelligent assistant that integrates frontline customer service communication experience and platform security capabilities, and has been upgraded again based on the Tencent HuanYuan Hy3preview large model, further strengthening semantic understanding and emotional perception capabilities. When teenagers encounter harassment or privacy threats, the Seedling Guardian Assistant can actively understand the user's situation, stabilize their emotions, provide actionable suggestions, and respond 24 hours a day. The Seedling Guardian Assistant uses a "AI + Human" dual-protect mechanism — AI quickly intervenes, and complex situations seamlessly transfer to human follow-up, providing teenagers with more timely and reassuring protection.
Unite Professional Forces, Collaborate to Protect Teenagers' Growth
Minor protection is never a matter that can be independently completed by a single entity. The "Regulations on the Protection of Minors on the Internet" clearly defines a governance pattern where families, schools, platforms, and society collaborate. Beyond technical means, how to introduce cross-disciplinary professional forces such as digital literacy, psychology, and policy, making platform protection more scientific and forward-looking, has become an important direction for industry exploration.
At the symposium, the "QQ New Bud Protection Expert Group" was officially announced. This expert group has gathered authoritative experts and institutions from fields such as internet literacy, adolescent mental health, family education, and digital philanthropy, injecting a scientific perspective and professional depth into the platform's minor protection work.
In the roundtable discussion session, the participants discussed topics such as "New Possibilities for Minor Protection in the Digital Age" and shared new paths for youth network protection and guidance.
Regarding the transformation of the concept of minor protection, Dr. Wang Sirui from the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Psychology emphasized from a psychological perspective that adults often use "blocking" and "telling," which often becomes isolation and preaching. "Letting them make decisions together" should replace "making decisions for them," truly seeing the children's "need for recognition, being seen, and belonging." Associate Professor Zhao Jingwu from the School of Law, Beihang University, analyzed from a legal perspective, stating that minor protection issues require the support of family-school collaboration and platform responsibility concepts, focusing on the development rights of minors. He particularly mentioned that although the law provides basic protection, what matters more is that all parties truly "take responsibility for their own territory."
In the issue of family and technology collaboration, Liu Guoping, Secretary-General of the Beijing Family Education Research Association, candidly spoke as a parent, saying that her child's experience of applying for a QQ account to develop games made her realize, "protection is not a fence, but a scaffolding built by families, platforms, and schools together." She pointed out that while AI excels at quickly identifying risks, the emotional connection between parents and children is irreplaceable.
In discussing innovative practices of AI in minor protection, Huo Yujia, Director of the Department of Family Education, China Children's Center, pointed out that the newly revised law on minor protection added two new sections: "Family Protection" and "Internet Protection," forming a six-in-one framework with judicial protection and social protection. Technological application and multi-party collaboration should enable each party to "take their place and respond quickly," forming a closed-loop of collaborative protection. Assistant Researcher Han Ru from the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Psychology analyzed the case of the public health "Haton Matrix," pointing out that QQ's minor protection is moving from "post-event handling" to "mid-event intervention" and even "pre-event prevention," while enhancing the family education concept to create a healthy environment. "From a control perspective to a protective empowerment perspective, helping teenagers make responsible decisions for themselves."
Finally, Qi Xuejing, Deputy Director of the Center for Minors' Internet Literacy Research at the School of Journalism and Communication, Beijing Normal University, summarized, "AI deals with efficiency issues, while the subjects such as families and schools deal with meaning and values. Let AI improve quality and efficiency, giving us more time to accompany our children."
