Opening the app, the moment the phone gently shakes, the application jumps to the shopping platform.
Internet users have been struggling with screen advertising for a long time, especially during the Double Eleven period. Some users even joked, "The fastest way to open a shopping app is not by clicking directly, but by opening other apps and then redirecting through open screen advertising
Recently, according to media reports, Apple has notified multiple top apps in China since November, requiring them to remove gyroscope permissions, shake and jump advertisements, or be banned.
Is it true that the "shake" advertisement is about to leave the stage this time?
Existence or extinction, this is a question
According to media reports, since November, Apple has notified various types of top application manufacturers, including but not limited to online video software, short video software, audio software, email software, etc., requesting them to remove gyroscope permissions to control the appearance of "shake one" advertisements in the application.
The "shake and shake" advertisement is a type of open screen advertisement for mobile applications. After obtaining permission, the application manufacturer monitors the movement of the user holding the phone by calling sensors such as gyroscopes (angular velocity sensors), acceleration, and gravity. Once the sensor recognizes that the phone has rotated or physically moved in the direction, it can trigger a jump.
At present, the news that Apple will ban corresponding advertisements has been on the Weibo hot search list. In multiple related votes, the number of votes for expressing support far exceeds the number of votes for "against" or "indifferent" options.
It is worth noting that previously, multiple one click advertising apps had received lawyer letters from leading internet companies announcing that they would discontinue their services.
In August, the developer of the one click advertising app "Li Tiaotiao" sent a message on its official account saying that "Li Tiaotiao" would stop updating indefinitely after receiving a lawyer's letter from a domestic Internet giant accusing it of unfair competition. In addition to "Li Tiaotiao", earlier on, multiple open-screen advertisements skipped apps, such as "Dingxiaotiao", "Yizhichan", and "Dasheng Purification", all received similar lawyer letters.
In the announcement to stop updating, the developer publicly disclosed the lawyer's letter they received. The lawyer believes that "Li Tiaotiao"'s behavior of filtering and blocking the advertising services of the company's browser to attract users to download and use the app is an unfair gain in competitive advantage. It is believed that it "goes beyond the use of neutral technological means to hinder and disrupt the legitimate business behavior of browsers, infringes on the legitimate rights and interests of the client, and undermines the legitimate order and mechanism of competition
The client, citing a violation of the Anti Unfair Competition Law, requested the developer of "Li Tiaotiao" to stop operating this app within 48 hours after receiving the letter and remove it from the corresponding app's release platform.
Apple's move, can the "Jump Up" advertisement really exit the stage as supporters wish?
Benefit and convenience, a difficult game between multiple parties
For advertisements that are not interested, users often click and skip the next moment they appear. Open screen advertising blocking software eliminates this step for users and is therefore widely popular.
Developers do not believe that "Li Tiaotiao" uses system permissions to help users automatically click on the skip button on advertisements, which is an infringement behavior. This behavior will not have any impact on the integrity of third-party applications, and is fundamentally different from the behavior of blocking advertisements. At the same time, developers also acknowledge that this behavior leads to a decrease in manufacturer revenue, at least unethical behavior, and even insist on updating "Li Tiaotiao" even though they know it is unethical, It is because the manufacturer's behavior of inducing users to click on advertisements is also unethical.
"Li Tiaotiao was updated simply because it felt it was a right thing." The app developer of "Li Tiaotiao" said on the official account that "Li Tiaotiao" is a stand-alone application with a public welfare nature. It has no network, no profit, and no business behavior as mentioned in the lawyer's letter.
However, jumping or not jumping seems to be no longer a simple moral game. For advertisers, it is reasonable to refuse this part of the benefits being shaken. This type of advertising blocking app has effectively improved user experience, but it cannot be denied that it directly excludes the economic interests of legitimate operators, "said Xia Hailong, a lawyer at Shanghai Shenlun Law Firm.
Although users may not be happy with it, advertising has become a fundamental business model in the internet ecosystem. Morketing data shows that in 2022, from the perspective of revenue structure, advertising revenue of Pinduoduo, Baidu, Kwai and Weibo will account for 78.7%, 60.4%, 52% and 87% respectively.
And almost everyone has a mobile phone, which may be a growth space that advertisers cannot give up. The 2022 China Digital Marketing Trends Report shows that mobile devices are the main choice for advertisers to invest in marketing, with 73% of advertisers indicating that they will increase their mobile internet investment in the future.
Open screen advertising has become one of the most popular choices in advertising due to its excellent performance. According to the "2018 China Mobile Internet User Behavior Insight Report" released by InMobi, the APP's open screen advertising received the highest attention, reaching 61.1%. Massive engine data shows that compared to other brand advertising resources, screen opening has a 97% increase in brand memory and a 174% increase in brand awareness. According to a 2021 report by CCTV Finance, the revenue from pop-up ads on certain mobile apps can reach up to 80% of their total advertising revenue.
Is it reasonable for developers to accuse such open-screen advertisements of skipping APP "unfair competition"?
The act of blocking advertising apps does indeed harm the legitimate advertising rights and interests of other operators. "Xia Hailong pointed out that Article 12 (2) (4) of the Anti Unfair Competition Law stipulates that operators shall not use technological means to obstruct or disrupt the normal operation of network products or services provided by other operators through influencing user choices or other means.
Internet companies use this as a reason to demand that app developers stop corresponding actions, and there are also precedents in judicial practice.
In 2019, the Beijing Intellectual Property Court held that the act of World Window blocking Tencent's video website advertisements constituted unfair competition in the second instance judgment of Tencent v. World Xinghui Company (the operator of World Window Browser). It is worth noting that in the second instance of the case, Tencent also submitted an economic report demonstrating the rationality and necessity of internet advertising, which was adopted by the court.
Bitter advertising has been going on for a long time, and governance is ongoing
However, the rationality of advertising does not mean that there is no room for governance. In recent years, the governance of advertising "chaos" such as "shake and shake" has been ongoing.
At the end of 2021, the Jiangsu Provincial Consumer Protection Commission investigated and found that software such as Baidu, Weibo, Himalayas, Douban, and Huawei Music all had "shake and shake" advertisements that could not be closed. Afterwards, the Jiangsu Provincial Consumer Protection Commission announced the progress of the rectification of the above situation, stating that Baidu, Himalaya, Tomato Novel, and Huawei Music have made commitments to "shake and shake" the rectification of open screen advertisements, including adding text prompts on the open screen page that "APP backend supports blocking shake and shake advertisements"; Add a "shake" setting button on the open screen advertising page, where consumers can choose to turn it off or on. However, the investigation at that time also showed that some applications had not been rectified according to regulations.
At the end of last year, the "Evaluation Specification for APP User Rights Protection Part 7: Deception, Misleading, and Coercive Behavior" was issued to regulate the issue of "random jumping" and effectively protect the legitimate rights and interests of users. Several institutions and enterprises, including China Institute of Information and Communication Technology's Taier Terminal Laboratory, Huawei, Xiaomi, and Alibaba (China), also participated in the formulation of the rules.
It further refines the relevant parameters of the APP information window that trigger the page or jump to third-party applications through methods such as "shaking", and proposes that the device acceleration for the "shaking" action should not be less than 15m/s2, and the rotation angle should not be less than 35& amp; amp; Deg;, The operation time shall not be less than 3 seconds or other series reference values.
The "Specification" also points out that if the "shake and shake" advertisement does not clearly indicate the triggering actions and interaction expectations that users need to perform, or if the interaction action judgment threshold is lowered by setting high sensitivity, it will be considered as APP deception and misleading forcing users to click and jump.
In February of this year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued a notice on further improving the service capabilities of mobile internet applications, requiring applications to provide clear and effective close buttons for screen opening and pop-up information windows to ensure that users can conveniently close them; It is not allowed to use methods such as "full screen thermal map" and high sensitivity "shake" to induce user operations that may cause false triggering.
However, in judicial practice, it is not easy to determine that "shake one shake" advertising is not compliant.
In February of this year, a student at Wuhan University sued the company affiliated with the "Meitu Xiuxiu" app. The reason for the lawsuit is that during the use of "Meitu Xiuxiu", she repeatedly triggered a "shake" open screen advertisement without subjective knowledge and willingness, such as walking, riding, and normal body movement, and was forced to switch to other shopping platforms and app interfaces. She believes that this action infringes on her freedom of choice and personal information security.
The court's analysis found that "Meitu Xiuxiu" engaged in deceptive, misleading, and forced clicking behavior, but the app's "shake" screen advertising was not prohibited by industry regulations, and the phone sensor information was not sensitive personal information. Although "Meitu Xiuxiu" violated her right of independent choice, it did not actually violate her personal information security.
Coincidentally, the Guangzhou Internet Court concluded a similar conclusion in May regarding a network infringement liability dispute caused by a "shake one shake" advertisement.
The failure to provide effective advertising closure methods or easy triggering of redirects is the main reason why "shaking" redirected advertisements may infringe on consumers' right to choose independently. In similar cases, how to prove the "easy triggering" of the "shake and shake" jump advertisement is a challenge. Wu Danjun, partner of Guantao Zhongmao (Shanghai) Law Firm, pointed out. If the trigger is not demonstrated, the court may only consider the defendant's failure to provide an advertising closure option as an infringement of the plaintiff's right to choose, "she said.
In May, the "Internet Advertising Management Measures" were officially implemented, which clearly stipulated that when internet advertisements are published in the form of pop-up ads, advertisers and advertising publishers should prominently indicate the closure sign to ensure one click closure. This new regulation will undoubtedly affect the legal evaluation of relevant actions by the judiciary, "Xia Hailong pointed out.
How should we do a good job in compliance with such advertisements in the future?
Wu Danjun believes that for "shake and shake" jump ads and other open screen ads, attention should be paid to the following compliance requirements: (1) prominently mark the closure sign to ensure one click closure; (2) Before enabling the "shake and shake" jump advertisement and other open screen advertisements, clearly inform the user of the personal information processing rules in the scene and obtain their consent; (3) Do not deceive or mislead users to click or browse advertisements; (4) Control the sensitivity or frequency of the "shake and shake" jump advertisement within the necessary range. For example, according to relevant precedents this year, set the interaction action parameters that trigger user jump in compliance, ensuring that the acceleration of the trigger jump parameter setting is not less than 15m/s2 and the rotation angle is not less than 35& amp; amp; Deg The operation time shall not be less than 3 seconds, etc.
If internet advertising is strictly regulated solely for the sake of users' online experience, a considerable portion of free online services and content may no longer exist, and users will need to pay for purchases, which may not be what users want. In Xia Hailong's view, in the future, regulators need to balance the reasonable interests between users and network operators. For internet companies, on the one hand, they should strengthen self-discipline, strictly comply with the "Internet Advertising Management Measures", ensure users' "one click shutdown right" for advertising, and on the other hand, ensure that paid services are worth the money, allowing users with different needs to freely choose.