Why do I always "accidentally" click on the advertisement when swiping the app [The word "advertisement" is very small and integrated with the picture, I can't see clearly and the "Close" button can't be found]
Investigate motivation
Recently, Mr. Zhang from Tanggu, Tianjin called and said that his elderly parents usually like to browse news information on the app, but the advertising slogans on some apps are very similar to news information. It is light and mixed in the picture, and it is difficult to detect the difference, causing parents to often make mistakes. Some advertisements are easy to enter and difficult to exit. Parents are very troubled by this.
I hope that the relevant departments will pay attention and rectify it.
Are there a large number of cases where the "advertisement" logo is not obvious and the users of "routines" are disguised, what laws and regulations are suspected of being violated, and how to rectify them?
With these questions, the reporter conducted a survey interview.
□ Reporter Han Dandong
□ Our newspaper intern Wang Yitian
"Quick charging for 6 minutes, battery life of 200 kilometers, new energy vehicles are on the market."
Mr. Wang, a Beijing citizen, is preparing to buy a car recently. When he saw this "news" while browsing an app, he immediately clicked in. He found that it was selling car film, seat cushions, glass water and other vehicle peripheral products, which were listed in conjunction with new energy vehicles. It doesn't matter at all.
After he quit, he found this "news" and saw that it was an advertisement. The sides of the advertisement picture were dark gray, and the small word "advertisement" was in the lower left corner of the picture, which was light gray. It was not easy to find if you didn't look carefully. .
"I often see such advertisements. They are hidden in the news information, and the logo is not obvious. If you don't pay attention, you click in by mistake." Mr. Wang lamented that the routines of platforms and businesses are very deep.
A reporter from the "Rule of Law Daily" found in a recent investigation that, as users such as Mr. Zhang from Tianjin and Mr. Wang from Beijing have said, some advertisements seem to deliberately imitate the main content and style provided by the user's logged-in app or platform, and try their best not to expose their "advertisements." "identity, causing many users to frequently miss clicks and jump to advertising pages such as shopping, novels, and games.
Users complained about this.
Advertising information is unclear
Logo is hidden and hard to find
Internet advertising chaos has existed for a long time, such as pop-up advertisements, inability to close them with one click, playing pornography, etc. Relevant departments have also continued to strengthen governance.
On September 30, 2022, the National Internet Information Office, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the State Administration for Market Regulation jointly issued the "Regulations on the Administration of Internet Pop-up Information Push Services" to regulate pop-up information push services.
Many interviewed users bluntly said that many apps and websites have indeed been "cleaner" since then.
However, some platforms and advertisers seem to have found a deeper way to push advertisements.
After his parents were troubled by advertisements, Mr. Zhang from Tanggu, Tianjin carefully checked several apps that his parents used frequently, and found that “some advertisements have almost the same content as news information, and only when you click on them do you know that you have been cheated, and some even download software automatically. , causing parents to download a bunch of messy apps on their mobile phones.”
Mr. Zhang told the reporter that he often encounters similar situations when surfing the Internet. "It is difficult for young people to identify advertisements, let alone old people." arrive.
The reporter inquired about several Apps and website pages mentioned by Mr. Zhang, and found that some Apps and websites had a large number of advertisements, and an advertisement would be inserted every two or three pieces of information. If you want a clean browsing environment, you have to pay to become a VIP to enjoy the "advertisement elimination service".
The pictures, fonts, and formats of advertisements on some apps are very similar to news information. The word "advertisement" is almost "integrated" with the background of the picture, and you can't find it if you don't look carefully.
The reporter clicked on multiple advertisements in the above-mentioned App, such as an advertisement "A woman in a certain place surprised passers-by with her outfits. Netizens: Dare to wear them..." It looked like a street photography information, but clicking on it was actually a shopping interface.
The top part of the interface displayed "automatically close after 4 seconds", but after 4 seconds, some advertising videos started to play automatically. When the reporter tried to pause and close, another advertisement popped up on the interface, and the App was redirected to the shopping platform.
Many interviewed users told reporters that a large number of hidden advertisements greatly affect the app experience.
Some netizens said helplessly that they escaped the open-screen advertisements, turned off the pop-up advertisements, and fell into the "claw" of hidden advertisements on the page.
It is worth noting that some current browser pages also provide information services, which also contain a lot of advertisements. Some advertisements are obviously borderline, and there are suspicions of pornography.
Sun Wei, senior partner of Beijing Zhongzheng Law Firm, said that the law does not have strict restrictions on the frequency of advertisements, but there are strict restrictions on the content.
Advertisements should be true and legal, and express advertisement content in a healthy form of expression. Obscene and pornographic content are expressly prohibited by the Advertising Law.
If the published advertisements contain sexually suggestive, provocative, and other obviously obscene or pornographic content, the market supervision and management department has the right to order them to stop publishing advertisements and impose fines. If the circumstances are serious, their business licenses may be revoked; Publishers may have their advertising fees confiscated and fined, and their business license may be revoked if the circumstances are serious.
Ads are hidden in the comment area
The effect of one-click closing is doubtful
The reporter's investigation found that there is another kind of advertisement that is "hidden" more subtly. They "lurk" in the comment area or message on the app or platform. The number of likes, users are easy to miss.
For example, in the comment area of a certain topic, the third comment is a game advertisement. There is a promotional video of the game and the avatar and name of the publisher similar to it. There are forwarding, commenting and like functions, showing that there are already 7059 likes.
In the upper right corner of this ad, it is marked with the word "Advertisement" and has a close button.
The reporter tried to click the close button, and the pop-up window prompted four options, namely "not interested, complain, block this blogger, and why you saw this advertisement".
In the introduction of the advertisement, there is a "one-click download" link marked in blue. After clicking, the game will be downloaded automatically. If the user touches it by mistake, they can only wait for the download to complete, install the game, and then delete it.
If the user refuses to install, they need to find the installation path and delete the installation package by themselves.
In the comment area of some Apps and platforms, the advertisements are marked as "hot push" instead of "advertisement".
For example, an advertisement says "The comments are really amazing!" Then a blue jump link appears, as long as the user touches it, it will automatically jump to a certain shopping platform.
Zhu Wei, deputy director of the Communication Law Research Center of China University of Political Science and Law, said that the advertising law and relevant laws and regulations have not made special regulations on the form of advertisements in comment areas. In view of the current behavior of various platforms adding advertisements in comment areas, it can be considered Included in the ranks of key supervision.
"Once an advertisement appears in the comment area, it should also comply with the relevant requirements of the Cyberspace Administration of China's regulations on the management of post comment services."
In addition, many interviewed users told reporters that some apps and platforms have set the function of closing advertisements, but they have doubts about whether this function is effective.
After the reporter tried it, he found that it was indeed as the interviewed users said.
For example, an information app has a one-click advertisement closing button, and the interface prompts that "this kind of recommendation will be reduced", but the reporter has closed seven types of advertisements such as "Cordyceps", "tea", and "advanced education" and refreshed the browsing page many times. Appears intact on the page.
In a post bar, when the advertisement is closed, a pop-up window will remind you. There are four options: "Already seen", "Poor content quality", "Activate VIP without advertising", and "Not interested". Off, but relevant ads will still be pushed while users browse other content.
Ads should be identifiable
Misleading users is harmful
my country's Advertising Law stipulates that the use of the Internet to publish and send advertisements must not affect the normal use of the Internet by users.
Advertisements posted on Internet pages in the form of pop-ups or other forms shall clearly indicate a closing sign to ensure that they can be closed with one click.
At the same time, it also stipulates that advertisements should be identifiable, enabling consumers to identify them as advertisements.
The mass media shall not publish advertisements in the form of news reports in a disguised form.
Advertisements published through mass media shall clearly indicate "advertisement" to distinguish them from other non-advertising information, and shall not mislead consumers.
The "Interim Measures for the Administration of Internet Advertising" also stipulates that the use of the Internet to publish and send advertisements must not affect the normal use of the Internet by users.
Advertisements posted on Internet pages in the form of pop-ups or other forms shall clearly indicate a closing sign to ensure that they can be closed with one click.
Do not deceptively induce users to click on the ad content.
"The advertisements in the above-mentioned apps and platforms appear in the same form as the content of the platform, which are highly concealed and difficult to identify, and may even cause consumers to misunderstand, violating the relevant provisions of the Advertising Law." Sun Wei said.
Duan Wei, a professor at the Law School of Minzu University of China and executive vice president of the Beijing Consumer Rights Protection Law Society, said that advertisements should be clearly marked with "advertising" so that consumers can identify them as advertisements.
The advertisements in the above-mentioned apps and platforms have misleading users, which violates the law, and they must bear corresponding legal responsibilities in accordance with the law, and the market supervision and management department will order it to make corrections and impose a fine.
Liu Junhai, a professor at the Law School of Renmin University of China, said that platforms and businesses should respect consumers' right to know and right to choose.
At present, some advertisements are concealed, which makes consumers unable to identify them, and essentially violates consumers' right to know. Relevant departments need to issue relevant rules for regulation.
Platform and App developers should stand up for consumers, put a good watch, check well, and create a consumer-friendly Internet advertising design concept.
Bear the main responsibility according to law
Multi-party joint efforts to control chaos
How to manage and improve the current problem of hidden ads?
Liu Junhai believes that consumers should enhance their awareness of self-protection and improve their ability to distinguish; regulatory authorities should strengthen supervision, make good use of administrative guidance, administrative supervision and administrative punishment powers in accordance with the law, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers, especially the right to identify and discriminate advertisements , the right to know and the right to choose, to create a shared, inclusive and inclusive Internet advertising market ecological environment.
Sun Wei said that advertising operators and publishers should enhance their legal awareness, release advertisements in strict accordance with the requirements of the Advertising Law, and assume the main responsibility; the supervision department should strictly deal with illegal pop-up advertisements and other advertisements that do not comply with the Advertising Law. Advertisers, advertisement publishers and operators shall be investigated for legal responsibility.
"Consumers should improve their discernment and attention when browsing the web or using apps, and report to the relevant departments in a timely manner if they find illegal advertisements." Sun Wei said.
Some people in the industry told reporters that most apps and platforms currently provide free services, and advertisements are one of the main ways to support their profits. Users complain about too many advertisements while enjoying free services, which itself has certain contradictions. Balancing and resolving this contradiction is a big topic.
Duan Wei believes that in the Internet age, it is better to avoid and not block all kinds of ever-changing Internet advertising behaviors. It is necessary to strengthen norms and comprehensive guidance. It can be followed; on the other hand, all employees should participate and perform their duties. Advertisers, advertising operators, advertising publishers and other business entities should strengthen their awareness of law-abiding and honest management, and advertising industry organizations should strengthen industry self-discipline and norms.
"Consumers consume rationally and protect their rights according to the law; consumer organizations take active actions; regulatory authorities take the initiative to fulfill their responsibilities, increase crackdown efforts, and jointly purify cyberspace." Duan Wei said.
"Rule of Law Daily" February 22, 2023, version 04