Ministry of Health and Welfare's Child and Adolescent Law Amendment: A single clause referencing the "Great Firewall" sparks panic, with Legislators Shen Boyang and others intervening urgently

A draft amendment to the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s “Act on Welfare and Rights Protection of Children and Adolescents” (the “Children and Juveniles Act”) includes terms such as “age-appropriate identification,” triggering public panic over an alleged “internet Great Wall” linked to online real-name systems and restrictions on creative freedom. In response, Legislators Shen Boyang and Tsai Yi-yu have, together with relevant organizations, urgently stepped in to negotiate.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare previews amendments to the Children and Juveniles Act; Article 59 strengthens online content protection

The Ministry of Health and Welfare in Taiwan has recently previewed a draft amendment to the “Children and Juveniles Welfare and Rights Protection Act.” Among them, Article 59 draws attention because it involves wording such as “age verification” and “restricting website access,” but the terms lack clear definitions—leading the public to worry whether Taiwan will follow the United Kingdom and China in building an internet Great Wall.

According to the draft, Article 59 is primarily intended to prevent children and adolescents from accessing internet content that could harm their sound mental and physical development. It specifies that the competent authority for communications and broadcasting will convene the relevant competent authorities for each relevant purpose, and will commission civilian organizations to establish content protection institutions.

The draft further requires that internet platform providers, application service providers, and content providers must establish self-regulatory mechanisms and take age-appropriate identification or other feasible necessary protective measures. When online content is deemed harmful to children and adolescents’ mental and physical development, the competent authority may notify operators to remove the content in advance or restrict children and adolescents’ ability to browse. If necessary, it may also directly notify internet access service providers to carry out access-restriction measures.

Draft amendment to the Children and Juveniles Act sparks fears of real-name requirements and website blocking

Once the draft for Article 59 was announced, it immediately triggered backlash online.

Many people are concerned that the term “age-appropriate identification” may in the future lead relevant agencies to set policies requiring online real-name systems—arguing that in order to protect certain children and adolescents, all citizens would be forced to prove their age online, which in turn would violate the privacy rights of the general public. If relevant units in the future require internet platforms to upload identity card documents for verification, it may also create risks of personal data leakage.

In addition, the draft grants the competent authority the power to restrict online access, which has also left many creators and netizens feeling alarmed. Some netizens criticize that this is tantamount to building an internet Great Wall and could end up stifling Taiwan’s democratic freedoms and online environment.

Some netizens emphasize that, after excluding illegal obscene remarks, sexual and violent creative works found in general movies, TV shows, games, and comics still constitute high-value speech protected under the Constitution. If the review power granted by the draft is allowed to expand excessively, it may threaten overall creative freedom.

Image source: Public Policy Online Participation Platform; the draft amendments to the Children and Juveniles Act sparked panic about real-name requirements and website blocking, prompting many people to comment and push back

Multiple legislators urgently intervene; the Ministry of Health and Welfare promises to re-evaluate

In response to public concerns, the Taipei City Animation Planning Workers Union and the ACGN Creative Rights Promotion Association, together with Legislators Tsai Yi-yu, Shen Boyang, and Huang Jie, held a joint symposium with the Ministry of Health and Welfare on April 30 and reached multiple conclusions.

Legislator Shen Boyang stated that the meeting first confirmed that the current internet content classification and management approach for artistic creation would remain unchanged—meaning virtual characters do not apply under the Children and Juveniles Act.

Regarding wording in the draft that is not precise enough—such as the establishment of self-regulation mechanisms, age-appropriate identification standards, and access restrictions—and that is also likely to trigger practical concerns, legislators have asked the relevant ministries and agencies to take the matter back and re-examine it, ensuring that the legal framework is consistent and clearly defined.

Image source: Shen Boyang’s Threads; the draft amendments to the Children and Juveniles Act caused panic, and Legislators Shen Boyang and others have met with the Ministry of Health and Welfare

Legislator Tsai Yi-yu suggested that when the Ministry of Health and Welfare amends the law, it must use precise and cautious wording to respect the diversity of “the second dimension” (2D) creative work, and to confirm that the amendments will not go beyond the original protective consensus.

A representative of the Ministry of Health and Welfare also promised to revise the wording with doubts, and after the announcement period ends, hold multiple public hearings to gather opinions from all sectors before releasing a formal draft.

Image source: Tsai Yi-yu’s Facebook; the draft amendments to the Children and Juveniles Act caused panic, and Tsai Yi-yu said the Ministry of Health and Welfare should listen more to public opinion

From the iWIN incident to the Children and Juveniles Act: the public keeps a close eye on online and creative freedom

The amendment controversy surrounding the Children and Juveniles Act has once again reminded people of the iWIN incident that sparked heated backlash in the anime community at the beginning of 2024.

At that time, the internet content protection organization iWIN informed operators to take down anime and game content involving “juvenile-like” virtual characters, which triggered fans’ panic that virtual creations were being excessively censored.

After coordination among multiple parties, handling principles were established. They have distinguished virtual “second-dimension” creations that are not realistic and do not infringe on personal legal interests from real child sexual exploitation and AI-generated realistic pornographic images, successfully defusing the controversy.

Image source: Huang Jie’s Threads; the iWIN incident had shaken Taiwan’s anime community significantly, and finally the various parties reached a consensus on handling principles

However, with the push to advance the 2026 revision draft of the Children and Juveniles Act, public sensitivity to internet regulation has been stirred again.

People do not expect digital intermediary legislation to come back

There are concerns that Taiwan may be stepping down the same path as the United Kingdom’s “Online Safety Act.”

After the law took effect in 2023, because it implemented strict age verification mechanisms, many unexpected outcomes emerged—for example, adult users downloaded VPNs in large numbers to bypass checks to protect their privacy, and some online platforms removed legitimate content excessively to avoid facing penalties, and even directly exited the UK market.

In the Southern Hemisphere, Australia has even adopted mandatory measures by directly banning minors from using social platforms; however, a BBC investigation found that local teenagers can still circumvent the restrictions through simple methods. Spain also intends to implement a youth ban, prompting Telegram founder Pavel Durov to criticize: “The country is using protecting children as a pretext to monitor its people.”

• Related report: Spain plans to ban children under 16 from using social media! TG founder criticizes: This is surveillance, not protection

International precedents have further deepened Taiwanese netizens’ concerns. They worry that the Digital Intermediary Law—strongly opposed and blocked a few years ago—might return under the guise of protecting children and adolescents.

Therefore, how the government will achieve a balance between implementing child protection and defending the public’s privacy and creative freedom will be a major challenge it faces.