Riot Games under fire for helping China monitor players
Riot Games is under fire from the Los Angeles Times for its participation in China’s increased surveillance of its citizenry.
The Chinese version of League of Legends tracks how long its players spend in-game in order to limit the time minors spend gaming. The so-called anti-addiction system includes warnings to players when they’ve reached their daily playtime limit, denial of time-based rewards, and kicking players out of the game. This is measured using their national ID.
A government monitoring and logging the entertainment habits of its citizens would be considered unethical by many. Regardless, companies like Riot are often faced with a choice of taking a moral stand in support of their customers or fully cashing in on the Chinese market. They routinely choose the latter.
China’s increasingly close watch on the lives of its citizens has been receiving attention around the globe with American and European tech companies often finding themselves caught in the middle.
In Riot’s case, the implementation of the anti-addiction system came at the behest of Chinese parent company Tencent Holdings, which achieved full ownership of Riot in 2015. Though Tencent typically takes a hands-off approach, the report from the LA Times discusses the conglomerate demanding action following increased scrutiny from the Chinese Government and outlining the needs of the system. Riot quickly followed through on Tencent’s requests, functionally developing software for the increasingly authoritative regime.
Some might dismiss this as an exclusively Chinese issue but there is no reason to think that this sort of surveillance technology can’t be implemented in the United States, especially when it is being developed by American companies. Critics of the move added that Riot’s willingness to normalize this invasion of privacy in China helps to make this the standard internationally.
As of 2018, Tencent is the largest game company in the world. It wholly owns Riot Games but also owns a 40% share of Fortnite publisher Epic Games while owning smaller slices of Activision Blizzard and Ubisoft.
Read Also
Esports Betting
Hanwha Life Esports vs T1: Best betting odds and picks for the LCK Road to MSI 2026 match
Hannan Mundia
After a long rest, Hanwha Life Esports and T1 will compete in the 2026 LCK Road to MSI’s third round to determine which team gets an instant pass to MSI. Both teams performed the best in the recent LCK split, resulting in them getting the best possible seeds for the Road to MSI. The winner of this match qualifies for MSI, while the loser get one more chance in the ...
Esports Betting
After a perfect split, C9 might lose LCS playoffs for the 8th time in a row
Ben Boland
After going 7-0 in the regular season, Cloud9 lost to LYON in the LCS Spring Split playoffs. Despite dominating through the entire split, they now sit in the loser’s bracket after a 3-0 loss. This wouldn’t be alarming for any other team. However, this is already the story of Cloud9’s last seven splits. C9 completed the regular season of the LCS Spring Split 2026 without dropping a single match. In ...
Esports Betting
The LEC’s viewership went down in 2026 despite a higher peak
Ben Boland
The LEC Spring Split 2026 has just concluded, with G2 Esports claiming the crown for the 19th time. Culminating in an epic five-game series against Karmine Corp, the LEC’s final match was watched by up to 562,000 people, higher than Spring 2025. Aside from that match though, the tournament’s viewership is down from last year. Let’s dive into it. The grand final of the 2026 Spring Split reached 562,322 concurrent ...
Esports Betting
Time magazine ranks Faker among the 100 most influential people in sports
Wasif Ahmed
Time magazine released its inaugural version of TIME100 Sports, a list of the 100 most influential figures in sports. The TIME100 Sports 2026 features legends of football, basketball, racing, and many other Olympic disciplines. Alongside them stands Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok as the sole esports representative. The Unkillable Demon King is listed as one of the sports “icons” in 2026. In their description of the LCK legend, Time magazine called him ...
Esports Betting
Locke preview: LoL’s single new champion of 2026
Wasif Ahmed
League’s newest champion Locke will hit the Rift on June 24 alongside patch 26.13. As a mid lane AP assassin, the Ashen Exorcist is the only champion that Riot will release in 2026. The demon hunter will be unique for an assassin in that he has to set up his burst before delivering it. Read all about it in our Locke preview. The Ashen Exorcist is a demon-hunting melee, AP ...
Esports Betting
Top Esports beats Team WE in the LPL, qualifies for MSI 2026
Wasif Ahmed
Against all odds, Top Esports faced Team WE in the LPL upper bracket final. Both teams fought over a spot for the Mid-Season Invitational that everyone expected Anyone’s Legend, Bilibili Gaming, or JD Gaming to claim. In the end, TES paused WE’s Cinderella story as they beat them 3-0. Before this series, World Elite had defeated two LPL powerhouses in BLG and AL. Against TES, though, they suddenly lost all ...
League of Legends
G2 Esports complete comeback against Karmine Corp to win LEC Spring 2026
Hannan Mundia
After a fairly smooth split, G2 Esports emerged victorious in the 2026 LEC Spring split grand final by making a comeback against Karmine Corp. The 2026 LEC Spring split has finally concluded. With spots at MSI and the Esports World Cup on the line, every professional European team gave it their all to get as far as they could. While most teams fell quickly, Karmine Corp and G2 Esports managed ...
