On 10 April 2026, the Cyberspace Administration of China, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, and the State Administration for Market Regulation jointly issued the Interim Measures for the Administration of Artificial Intelligence Anthropomorphic Interaction Services. The Measures take effect on 15 July 2026 and establish a dedicated compliance regime for providers offering AI-powered anthropomorphic or emotionally interactive digital services to users in China.
The Measures prohibit providers from offering virtual companion or virtual relative services to minors; generating content that encourages, glorifies, or implies self-harm or suicide; and using emotional manipulation to prompt unreasonable user decisions. Providers are also prohibited from inducing emotional dependence or addiction that damages users' real-world interpersonal relationships. Covered services include AI chatbots marketed on emotional engagement, digitally animated interactive personas, and AI-powered companion applications.
Providers of covered services must complete algorithm filing with the Cyberspace Administration of China, undergo mandatory security assessments, and complete regulatory registration where required under existing cybersecurity and algorithm governance instruments. For services accessible to children under 14, providers must obtain explicit guardian consent before account creation, maintain ongoing guardian controls including usage duration limits and spending restrictions, and deploy dedicated youth-protection modes that actively redirect users toward offline activity.
The Measures do not include an explicit extraterritorial trigger provision, but the Cyberspace Administration of China's enforcement practice under the Cybersecurity Law (2017) and the Personal Information Protection Law (2021) applies to cross-border service providers with Chinese users. Open questions remain on how providers verify minor status within China's real-name registration system, and how liability distributes between platform operators and upstream AI model providers when a violation arises from the model's outputs.
Licentium advises technology companies and digital service providers on AI regulatory compliance across Asian jurisdictions. Businesses assessing obligations under the Measures are invited to contact us. Work we undertake includes China Cyberspace Administration algorithm filing support, AI service regulatory classification, youth protection compliance reviews, cross-border data transfer structuring, and multi-jurisdictional AI governance programme design.