"Make-up" advertisements trick users into clicking, and the authenticity of the advertisement's close button cannot be discerned...

Bad apps become "time hunting grounds", harvesting user time wildly

　　Our reporter Hu Jinwu and Xiong Jialin

　　Government service apps allow residents to do less errands, online office apps show their talents during the epidemic prevention period, and shopping and takeaway apps have become a "necessity" for netizens... With the development of Internet technology, various standardized apps are making people's work and life increasingly convenient.

　　However, a Xinhua Daily Telegraph reporter found that as user time has become one of the most valuable elements in the era of traffic, some bad apps are setting up cards in various links through various routines such as makeup, lure, and stealth. Time hunting ground", wantonly "harvesting" user time, so as to achieve profit-making purposes.

To this end, experts recommend establishing a negative list of bad apps, and building a clean network environment by strengthening supervision and other effective methods.

"Time Hunting Ground": App such as "Snake Eating"

　　"In the past 7 days, your mobile phone has been used for 39 hours and 58 minutes, and you have unlocked your phone 474 times, an average of once every 20 minutes." Yang Sen, 25, works in a financial company in Guangdong and is a typical "Gen Z" youth. When he turned on the "screen usage time management" function of his phone, he was taken aback. He didn't expect to spend nearly a quarter of his time on the screen every day.

　　Netizens who have a relatively high proportion of online life like Yang Sen are not alone.

The China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) released the 46th "Statistical Report on the Development of the Internet in China", which shows that as of June 2020, the average Internet user in my country spends 28 hours online per week.

Among them, communication, online video, and online audio apps are the most commonly used software for mobile netizens, and their use time accounts for more than 10%.

　　"Nowadays, apps can not only wake up each other, but also accurately push advertisements across devices." Wang Qun, who works in the e-commerce industry in Nanchang, Jiangxi, uses two mobile phones all year round.

Recently, he was surprised to find that after searching for an unpopular product on a mobile shopping software, the short video software of another mobile phone quickly pushed advertisements for the same product.

　　Wang Qun vomited that this made him feel like he had entered an App "hunting ground" when he turned on his phone. Each App wanted to take up the viewer's time as much as possible.

　　Aurora Mobile's "Q3 Mobile Internet Industry Data Research Report 2020" shows that in the third quarter of 2020, the total number of App installations per capita of mobile Internet users will reach 56, and the value of head App user traffic will reach tens of billions.

　　Experts and scholars believe that, compared with almost unlimited Internet information, some bad apps now regard the limited attention of netizens as a realizable "commodity."

While the mobile Internet facilitates people’s lives, it also forces many people into a hunting ground for traffic and information.

Reaping has "skills": attention becomes "Tang monk meat"

　　Make-up techniques, lure techniques, stealth techniques... Recently, the reporter learned from an interview and investigation that some bad apps are frequently used to "harvest" traffic, which overdrafts users' time in various links such as users entering, using, and exiting software programs.

　　The first trick is to pretend to be a clicker. Ambiguous news and work news are all false news.

"Brother, I haven't contacted for a long time, I think..." "You have an unread work message" When you click on this kind of message that suddenly pops up from the status bar, it jumps to open other apps that are not related to information. The user will realize that this is a "makeup" ad.

Some apps set false message notifications, even update reminders, system notifications, etc. to trick users into clicking and entering.

　　"This kind of situation is hard to guard against, and there are many tricks, which is annoying." Yang Sen took out his mobile phone to demonstrate, he opened a software, the page popped out "Loading failed, please click refresh", after clicking the "Refresh" button, it jumped to The activity interface of a certain shopping software turned out to be an open-screen advertisement disguised as a system message.

　　The second trick is to scheming to tempt for a long time, and the road to making money and withdrawing money is full of layers of routines.

"You can make money by walking" and "cash video by swiping videos"... Recently, a batch of so-called "money-making software" has emerged in the software market. After actual experience, reporters discovered that such apps have hidden doorways, with regard to the number of withdrawals, the amount of withdrawals, and the upper limit of withdrawals. Set thresholds in many aspects.

Some users spend a lot of time and energy just "getting water from the bamboo basket".

　　The netizen "Li Jing" once tried to make money through a short video app. "Developed the habit of refreshing videos every day. One swipe lasts for a few hours." In the end, "the money to exchange gold coins for a month and a half is only 20 yuan."

He said that during this period, he not only lost time, but also "the cell phone battery was consumed so as to be scrapped", which made him very chagrin.

　　The third trick is to hide and block exit. Exit signs and close signs are mostly misleading signs.

Some apps forcefully prolong the user's use time. The close button of the advertisement may be indistinguishable from the authenticity, or the size is small, or the color is lighter. In short, it is "hiding" and turning off the advertisement is like breaking into a "minefield."

Some users complained that App was originally a network tool that facilitated work and life, but now it has become a test of observation and judgment. If you are not careful, you will be delayed.

　　The netizen "Braum Xiansen" shared a picture on the social platform, and saw that there are multiple buttons such as "skip" and "close" on the pop-up ad interface of the App, which are distributed in different positions on the screen, and it is difficult to distinguish which one. It's true.

He said that an advertisement seemed to be "skip" with four buttons, but he didn't dare to click one of them.

Many netizens said that when using such apps, they must "look forward to the future" and beware of "traps" at all times.

Let "routines" have no way out: put a "tight hoop" on bad apps

　　Time is money. The "time hunting ground" formed by a few bad apps wants to "divide and eat" users' time by forcing or inducing them.

While merchants are realizing traffic and making profits, they have seriously overdrawn the limited time and energy of consumers.

Experts and scholars have called for the establishment of a negative list management model and increased supervision of apps to make it possible for those bad apps to be "blackened".

　　"App maliciously hunting users time can easily lose market reputation." said Yang Yufeng, director of the Department of Data Science and Technology, School of Software, Nanchang Hangkong University. Arousing user disgust, leading to distrust of such business models and platforms.

Yang Yufeng believes that apps should focus on high-quality content and functions, rather than trying to extend the invalid use time of users.

　　It is worth mentioning that, in order to keep up with the rapid development of the Internet and put a "tight ring" on bad apps in a timely manner, relevant laws and regulations are constantly improving.

　　Regarding the situation of "a number of close buttons for one advertisement", the "Advertising Regulations of Jiangsu Province" clarified that the use of the Internet to publish and send advertisements shall not affect the normal use of the Internet by users, nor shall it be possible to deceive users to click on the content of advertisements.

"Ads published in the form of pop-ups on Internet pages should be marked with a close sign to ensure one-click close."

The regulations also stipulate that the "deceptive click" advertisements should be ordered to be corrected by the market supervision and management department, and a fine of 10,000 yuan to 30,000 yuan shall be imposed.

　　As the network environment has increasingly become an important part of the public environment, it is urgent to improve the social responsibility of the Internet platform. Experts such as Yang Yufeng suggested that while encouraging Internet innovation, it is also necessary to strengthen management of the network companies behind the App, restrict and guide non-standard apps, prevent apps from "savage growth" competing for traffic, and avoid laying down a healthy network order. Hidden dangers. (At the request of interviewees, Yang Sen and Wang Qun are pseudonyms)