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
League of Legends
T1 Esports Challengers vs Galions: WSCI Semifinals best bets and predictions
Wasif Ahmed
T1 Esports Challengers faces Galions in the World Star Challengers Invitational semifinals. Honoring their organisation, T1.EA is one of the two favorites to win the event, easily defeating every opponent they’ve faced so far. Against them, Galions also made quick work of their Korean quarterfinal opponent. Here are our predictions and the best bets for T1.EA vs GL. The org of LoL champions is also a stronghold in tier 2. ...
League of Legends
Solary vs DN Soopers Challengers WSCI Semi-Finals: Bets and Predictions
Ben Boland
Solary goes up against DN Soopers Challengers in the semi-finals of the World Star Challengers Invitational 2026, the inaugural edition of the tier 2 World Championship. Europe and Korea have been dominating the tournament, and only those two regions remain in the semi-finals. This is the first time that secondary leagues face off internationally, making this the first true test of those regions’ strengths. Is the LFL the best tier ...
League of Legends
LYON vs Shopify Rebellion LCS playoffs lower bracket: Best bets and predictions
Ben Boland
LYON faces Shopify Rebellion in the lower bracket of the LCS Summer Playoffs 2026. The winner of this match claims North America’s final spot at the 2026 League of Legends World Championship, while the loser ends their season in fourth place. Neither team should have been in this spot. LYON entered the playoffs as the favorite and they’re now in the loser’s bracket, and SR was expected to lose much ...
League of Legends
Team Liquid vs Cloud9 LCS Playoffs Upper Bracket Finals: Bets and Predictions
Ben Boland
The LCS Upper Bracket finals are one many would not have predicted. Team Liquid takes on Cloud9 to see which team will lock in their spot in the Worlds 2026 Swiss stage and the LCS Summer Grand Finals. League of Legends bettors are in for a treat in this best-of-five, with many good bets available. Let’s take a look at some of the best bets for the Cloud9 vs. Team ...
League of Legends
The LEC’s Viewership Is Down 20% From Summer 2025
Ben Boland
As the Summer Split has concluded, the results are out — and the LEC’s viewership keeps declining for the second year in a row. Even though Europe has achieved strong results this year, fewer viewers follow these teams regionally afterwards. According to Escharts, the LoL European league has recorded 173,989 average viewers in Summer 2026, and 438,821 peak viewers. In 2025, the LEC had an average viewership of 213,292 with ...
League of Legends
Is Voice Chat Coming to League of Legends in 2026?
Ben Boland
After a decade of being opposed to it, Riot has finally taken steps to implement voice chat in League of Legends. However, the launch of voice chat in LoL has been delayed as the feature is experiencing setbacks. Here’s a rundown of the situation. Earlier this year, players discovered voice chat-related files on the LoL Player Beta Environment (PBE). Following them, Riot communicated on March 13 that they were now ...
League of Legends
LoL: Europe Shines Against Korea in 2026 As NA Struggles To Keep Pace
Ben Boland
In 2026, Europe has had its best results against the East in LoL Esports history. While their losses to North America may overshadow their achievements, EU has a winning record against South Korea this year. Meanwhile, NA has the LEC’s number but has its worst head-to-head against the East since 2023 — here I will break down the key statistics that show this. After years of Europe being a shell ...
