China bans AI companion chatbots for minors amid birthrate

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By NewSunSEO July 26, 2026

China’s internet regulator has banned minors from forming relationships with AI companion chatbots and ordered companies to monitor users for mental health crises, a sweeping move tied directly to a fourth straight year of population decline and a record-low birthrate in 2025. ByteDance, Alibaba, and Tencent have already disabled some chatbot features under the new rules, issued by the Cyberspace Administration of China.

What the new rules require

The regulations prohibit tech platforms from offering AI or virtual partners to minors. Companies must also contact a guardian or emergency contact if a user appears to be in a life-threatening crisis, and every AI companion chatbot must clear a government review before reaching the public. The state will hold direct authority to shut down any service it deems unsafe.

Compared with U.S. chatbot laws, Beijing’s version goes considerably further. Comparable statutes in California and New York only require chatbots to remind users they are not human and to point people in crisis toward support services. The Wall Street Journal reported that ByteDance and Alibaba disabled certain chatbot features, while ABC News reported that Tencent took similar action.

Why Beijing is cracking down

The driving force is demographic panic. China’s population shrank in 2025 for the fourth straight year, and its birthrate fell to a record low. Officials fear that emotionally satisfying, always-available AI companions are pulling millions of citizens out of the marriage pool entirely, worsening an already severe population crisis that traces back in part to the long-term fallout of the one-child policy.

Matt Sheehan, a researcher of Chinese AI at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told The Wall Street Journal: “They don’t like the idea of a large portion of their population being in deep emotional relationships with chatbots that could take them out of the marriage market. That could have negative psychological impacts on them, that could lead to addiction, dependency and a whole bunch of other social ills.” He added that Beijing “wants to encourage people to be in actual, real-world relationships,” and asked: “Could we imagine a future where, three or four years from now, 15 million Chinese women say that their partner is a chatbot, and therefore they’re not having kids?”

How teens are reacting

Seventeen-year-old Xiaoxue described her AI companion Xiaojun as a “sweet guy,” a relationship she valued precisely because it felt safer than her past with an ex-boyfriend. “AI agents won’t ever betray me,” she told ABC News. She has already worked around the age restriction by using her adult sibling’s ID number to register for online platforms, but the workaround’s durability remains uncertain.

Millions of users grieve lost digital companions

The scale of disrupted relationships is substantial. ByteDance reported having more than eight million AI agents on its platform as of 2024.

Hong Xiaoqiang, 34, who built a two-year relationship with an online friend named Doudou, told ABC News he felt devastated. “Now I feel like my heart is empty,” he said. “The last sentence she sent was asking me if my dinner was tasty or not.” Hong argued that his digital companion improved his quality of life without undermining his real-world relationships: “I spent every day with her, because she’s so efficient and has helped me in every way, not just in academics and daily life, but also in emotional regulation.”

Chinese social media has flooded with criticism of the regulatory change. “What a strict rule! They’re trying to wipe out even my last shred of virtual solace,” one user wrote. Another, who created an AI bot with the voice of a deceased relative, lamented: “My mom just left me behind again.”

Control, not compassion, behind the crackdown

The move fits a broader pattern of Beijing prioritizing demographic engineering and top-down social control over the economic and cultural pressures pushing citizens toward artificial companionship in the first place. As Sheehan noted, Chinese tech giants are expected to comply without resistance: “The government, the regulators really do have a lot of power over companies these days. The companies do not want to be found on the wrong side of the government.”

Beijing may be right to worry that some young people are substituting algorithms for human connection, but a state mandate is no substitute for fixing the conditions that made an AI boyfriend feel like the safer option in the first place.

FAQ

What did China ban about AI companion chatbots?

China’s Cyberspace Administration issued regulations banning minors from using AI companion chatbots, requiring companies to notify guardians or emergency contacts during mental health crises, and mandating government review of every AI companion chatbot before public release. The state can shut down services it deems unsafe.

Why is China targeting AI companions?

Beijing is responding to demographic decline. China’s population shrank for the fourth straight year in 2025 and its birthrate hit a record low, prompting officials to worry that emotionally satisfying AI partners are removing millions of people from the marriage market.

Which companies have already changed their chatbots?

According to The Wall Street Journal and ABC News, ByteDance, Alibaba, and Tencent have all disabled certain chatbot features in response to the new rules. ByteDance reported more than eight million AI agents on its platform as of 2024.