Mobile APP advertisements that cannot be turned off should be ruled (Focus on the Rule of Law)
Core reading
At present, some mobile APP advertisements are difficult to close, infringe on privacy, and induce clicks and other problems have been repeatedly banned, causing confusion to mobile phone users.
In response to this problem, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other departments have taken a variety of measures to urge enterprises to rectify and reform in accordance with regulations.
What are the risks caused by the chaos of mobile APP advertising?
How to manage chaos and better protect the rights and interests of users?
The reporter started the interview.
When you open some mobile apps, you will encounter pop-up advertisements, but you want to close them but you can’t find the button; some pop-ups show network failures, but after clicking to view, they jump to the advertisement page; the products that have been viewed on a certain e-commerce APP, When entering other apps, I repeatedly received advertisements of similar products...Mobile apps have brought convenience to people's lives, but the subsequent open-screen pop-up advertisements have also brought users trouble.
In response to mobile apps that have strong user feedback and many complaints, such as inducing users to click and jump, and pop-up ads are difficult to close, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has recently conducted centralized rectification to urge enterprises to pay attention to user demands and rectify in accordance with requirements.
Data shows that in the second quarter of this year, the number of complaints and reports from users of mobile APP opening pop-up messages dropped by 50% month-on-month, and the problem of misleading users to click on third-party pages dropped by 80% year-on-year.
False information induces clicks, abuse of personal information, and certain mobile APP advertisements infringe on user rights
"As soon as I opened a certain travel app, a window advertisement for financial promotion popped up. The close button was unclear, and it took a long time to find it." Ms. Yin, who works in Haidian District, Beijing, told reporters that there are not a few apps like this, and it affects. Use experience.
Ms. Yin's use experience is not an individual case.
According to data from the Shanghai Consumer Rights Protection Commission, after analyzing and testing the advertising behavior of 600 mobile apps, it was found that 58% of them would pop up advertisements, and 69.7% of them did not have a "close button."
"The protection of the rights and interests of mobile APP users is related to the people's sense of gain, happiness, and security." Liu Quan, director of the Institute of Network Security, China Electronics and Information Industry Development Research Institute, introduced that from recent user complaints, there are mainly the following mobile phones App advertising chaos——
The pop-up information identification is almost invisible, and the mobile phone advertisement cannot be closed or returned.
"Most mobile apps will pop up advertisements when they are in use. Some advertisements do not have a'close button'. Users can only accept passively and cannot close them by themselves." Liu Quan said that some advertisements have hidden options for closing the entrance, and the closing process is cumbersome for users. It is difficult to find and damages the user experience.
The page uses false information to induce users to click to jump.
Ning Hua, director of the Information Security Department of the Tel Terminal Laboratory of the Chinese Academy of Information and Communications Technology, said that after opening some apps, "Memory is full, clean up immediately", "Battery is overheated, immediately cool down", "Trojan horses are intercepted, immediately check and kill", "You have Hundred yuan phone fee subsidy, please receive "pages", and use text, pictures, videos and other methods to induce users to click. In fact, some unreviewed products and even illegal content are pushed to users, which seriously infringes consumers' safety protection rights.
Some mobile apps abuse personal information and violate consumer privacy.
"When a user clicks on a certain type of advertisement in a mobile app, they will receive a large number of the same type of advertisement in other mobile apps, which is suspected of infringing on the user's privacy." Liu Quan said.
“The chaos of APP advertising damages the user experience and disrupts the order of network services. The hidden risks are not small.” Ning Hua said, “Some mobile apps download and install or open third-party apps or pages against the will of users, which violates the user’s legality. The security of rights and privacy must be intensified."
Driven by high advertising profits, delivery methods are complex and diverse, mobile APP advertising chaos needs in-depth management
In March 2020, the State Administration for Market Regulation and other eleven departments jointly issued a notice, emphasizing that monitoring and supervision will be strengthened, and resolutely curbing the frequent and prone situation of false and illegal advertisements such as mobile apps and self-media accounts;
In October 2020, the State Cyberspace Administration of China issued the first batch of special rectification lists for the chaos of mobile APP pop-up advertisements;
In July of this year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology conducted a intensive rectification of the problem of using text, pictures, videos and other forms to deceive and mislead users to jump on the APP opening information page in the ongoing special rectification action for mobile apps.
Up to now, 68 Internet companies have completed rectification as required.
"The rectification action has achieved remarkable results, and a number of normative documents related to Internet advertising have also been released. However, some mobile apps show the characteristics of'problems frequently-regulatory governance-safe and stable-recurring again', and mobile APP advertising is still chaotic. Need in-depth governance." Liu Quan said.
"Advertising is the main way to monetize mobile APP traffic." Ning Hua believes that "Mobile APP ads are usually billed and settled according to click-through rate and conversion rate. Some mobile apps use malicious push and other methods to increase the number of ad impressions and user clicks. The number of times and the number of downloads and installations, so as to obtain higher revenue."
Some mobile apps often set up "purchase links" through pictures and videos, and then directly jump to the purchase page of other platforms after clicking. Such mobile apps as advertising display platforms often use this to evade responsibility.
Liu Quan believes that in the actual management process, mobile APP advertising methods are complex and diverse, and some platforms often use different technical means to strengthen advertising settings.
Regarding massive advertising activities, regulators should increase their efforts in screening.
Strengthen administrative law enforcement, improve the infringement relief mechanism, and create a safer use environment
"Mobile APP advertising chaos is suspected of infringing on consumers' privacy rights, security rights, and the right to know." Liu Quan introduced that in accordance with Article 44 of the Advertising Law and the Interim Measures for the Administration of Internet Advertising, the use of the Internet to publish and send advertisements shall not affect When users use the Internet normally, advertisements posted on Internet pages in the form of pop-ups should be marked with a close sign to ensure one-click close.
In response to the chaos of mobile APP advertising, relevant experts said that efforts must still be made to strengthen administrative law enforcement, improve relief mechanisms, etc., and continue to increase the rectification of illegal advertising.
"Relevant departments should actively use technical means to identify business activities based on data analysis for precise identification and advertising." Liu Quan said that relevant departments should strengthen the application of technical means such as advertising pop-up filtering, and promote the development of advertising on mobile APP platforms. Filtering and blocking tools, and enable the option of ad filtering for users.
"At present, the China Advertising Association and the Internet Association of China are working with industry companies to jointly formulate the "Mobile Internet Application (APP) Startup Screen Advertising Code of Conduct" to guide the members of the two associations to engage in startup screen advertising activities in accordance with the law, to ensure that users use mobile apps normally, and to promote The healthy and standardized development of start-up screen advertising.” said the relevant person in charge of the Internet Society of China.
"From the perspective of protecting consumers' rights and interests, we should promote the improvement of mobile APP advertising infringement relief mechanisms, establish and unblock user complaint channels, and improve relief services for infringed consumers." Relevant experts believe that "in response to false content caused by advertising It is possible to actively explore the consumer advertising safety insurance system to protect the relevant rights and interests of consumers."
According to reports, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will continue to increase its efforts to steadily promote the special rectification of mobile APP advertising to go deep and practical, strengthen user perception, and create a safer, healthier and cleaner mobile APP environment for the general public. .
Our reporter Han Xin