International Survey & Analysis of Laws and Regulations Addressing Internet Addiction and/or Problematic Usage of the Internet

Public health is facing new types of global challenges coming from the risks all classes of population get exposed to via their growing use of Internet based media and contents. As the individualized treatment of such health and social problems is both difficult and very costly, preventive and legislative measures have been taken in a vast number of countries. Excessive internet use has not yet been recognised as a disorder by the World Health Organization (WHO), nor in the American Psychiatric Association’s list of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5); however, the related diagnosis of online gaming disorder (6C50) and online gaming disorder (6C51) have been included in the forthcoming 11th revision of WHO International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11). This paper is focussing on top-down laws voted in a Parliament, or enacted public regulations and some industry wide regulations, which, in different countries, tackle one or several facets of Internet addiction or problematic uses of the Internet (PUI). This international survey is carried out on a basis of laws and regulations in each country, with Internet addiction or PUI as a direct or indirect scope. This has resulted early 2020 in the identification and summarization of a catalogue of 66 laws or regulations from 50 countries, each described in template form in a supplementary document. The identified laws and regulations are analysed with respect to specific consequences of the Internet addictions, as well as by categories of stakeholders addressed in these measures. The laws and regulations are also classified in terms of the underlying principles and solution approaches, showing large cultural differences.