The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology strikes again to crack down on malicious blocking of links, pop-ups, and forced personalized services

On July 26, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued an announcement on its website stating that on the basis of the previous special rectification of APP, it was decided to launch a special rectification action for the Internet industry, aiming to guide the formation of an open, interoperable, safe and orderly market environment and promote Industry standards and healthy and high-quality development.

It is understood that the special rectification actions focus on eight categories of problems in four aspects, including disrupting market order, infringing on user rights, threatening data security, and violating resource and qualification management regulations, involving 22 specific scenarios, such as malicious blocking of website links. , pop-up windows, forced personalized services, threats to data security, "black broadband", etc.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology stated that in terms of disrupting market order, it will focus on rectifying problems such as malicious blocking of website links and interference with the operation of other companies' products or services, including restricting normal access to other website links without legitimate reasons and implementing discriminatory blocking. Measures and other scenarios.

Blocking and blocking between platforms has a long history. It is not uncommon for Douyin content to be blocked from WeChat, Alipay cannot be used on Meituan, and Taobao and WeChat to block each other.

On February 7, the "Anti-Monopoly Guidelines of the State Council Anti-Monopoly Committee on the Platform Economy" were released, requiring the protection of fair market competition and the creation of an orderly, open and inclusive development environment for competition. Restrictions imposed by platform operators through punitive measures such as search power reduction, traffic restrictions, and technical obstacles can generally be deemed to constitute restricted trading behavior.

"Touteng War" once tore a corner of the platform ban. In February, Douyin sued Tencent for monopoly in the Beijing Intellectual Property Court, claiming that Tencent restricted users from sharing content from Douyin through WeChat and QQ, which constituted a "monopoly that abuses market dominance, eliminates and restricts competition" and is prohibited by the Anti-Monopoly Law. Behavior" and requested the court to order Tencent to stop this behavior and compensate Douyin 90 million yuan. Subsequently, the two sides fell into a lengthy "war of words," and similar legal disputes have occurred frequently between the two Internet giants in recent years.

Tighter antitrust enforcement has also slightly loosened the walls built between platforms. On April 10, the State Administration for Market Regulation issued an anti-monopoly fine to Alibaba and issued an administrative guidance letter, clearly requiring Alibaba to increase the opening of data, payment, application and other resource ports on the platform in accordance with the law.

By July, there was news that Alibaba and Tencent were considering opening up their ecosystems to each other. Alibaba’s initial measures may include introducing WeChat payment to Taobao and Tmall; while Tencent may allow Alibaba’s e-commerce information to be used on WeChat Share, or allow WeChat users to use some Alibaba services through mini programs. There has been no response from either side.

As the supervision of all parties increases, the next Internet competition may break the status quo of isolation, blockade, and blocking, and develop in a more open, inclusive and compatible direction.

In terms of infringement of user rights, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology focuses on rectifying problems such as deceiving and misleading users through application startup pop-ups and forcing the provision of personalized services, including pop-up windows that cover the entire screen as jump links and providing false close buttons during targeted push notifications. Wait for the scene.

The phenomenon of online pop-ups has been criticized. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology stated on July 8 that it will vigorously promote the rectification of the problem of app opening pop-up messages that harass users. Users have reported strong complaints about "pop-up messages with nearly invisible logos, close buttons as small as ants, and page disguises that conceal the truth." Violations such as "inducing clicks and darkening Chencang" have been intensively rectified, and companies are urged to pay attention to user demands and solve problems such as using text, pictures, videos and other methods to deceive and mislead users into jumping in the opening information page.

As of that time, 68 leading Internet companies including Baidu and Alibaba had completed rectifications as required. In the second quarter of 2021, the number of user complaints and reports of pop-up information dropped by 50% month-on-month, and the problem of misleading users to click and jump to third-party pages dropped by 80% year-on-year.

On July 18, the Jiangsu Provincial Consumer Rights Protection Committee also released the "Investigation Report on PC Application Software Network Pop-ups".

The report shows that among the 30 software downloaded and tested through official channels, 11 have network pop-up problems, accounting for 37% of the total number of surveys. Among them, when Baofeng Video was installed, the pop-up windows that were checked by default contained pornographic and vulgar information; the pop-up windows of 360 Safe Browser and 360 Security Guard used provocative and suggestive pictures or language to induce netizens to click, and the promotion was unknown. The website also promotes illegal drugs, exaggerates the efficacy of drugs, and is suspected of false propaganda.

In addition, in the four softwares of Bird Wallpaper, 360 Safe Browser, 360 Security Guard, and Tencent Video, commercial advertisements are neither marked with the word "advertisement" nor the source of the advertisement; The pop-up window size ratio of QQ and Tencent Video is inappropriate.

In response to the problem of "personalized advertising cannot be turned off", the second review draft of the "Personal Information Protection Law" clarified that commercial marketing and information push through automated decision-making methods should also provide information that is not targeted at individuals. Feature options, or provide individuals with a way to decline. Even if the consumer's temporary consent is obtained, the personal information processor should provide the individual with a convenient way to withdraw consent, and the individual's withdrawal of consent will not affect the effectiveness of the personal information processing activities performed before the withdrawal of consent.

This is in line with the relevant provisions in the draft "Data Security Law" and "Personal Information Protection Law".

As required by Article 27 of the "Data Security Law", data processing activities must be carried out in accordance with the provisions of laws and regulations, establish and improve a full-process data security management system, organize and carry out data security education and training, and take appropriate measures. technical measures and other necessary measures to ensure data security.

The second draft of the "Personal Information Protection Law" stipulates that before providing personal information to a third party, individuals must be informed of the recipient's identity, contact information, processing purpose, processing method and type of personal information, and Obtain individual consent from the individual. Third parties should also process personal information within the above-mentioned processing purposes, processing methods and types of personal information. Once changes are made, individual consent must be obtained again.

Personal information data, especially biometric information such as faces and voices, are required to be handled more carefully and strictly protected to prevent security risks caused by deep forgery technologies such as AI face changing and AI voice changing. .

For example, on March 18, the national cybersecurity and informatization department and the public security department interviewed 11 Internet companies including Inke and Xiaomi in accordance with the law, urging them to strengthen their supervision of voice social software and new Internet technologies involving deep forgery technology. Apply safety assessment, improve risk prevention and control mechanisms and measures, and take timely and effective rectification measures for discovered safety hazards.

At the same time, with the recent cybersecurity regulatory storm triggered by the Didi incident, companies, especially platform companies with massive amounts of data, may have greater demand for data compliance when going overseas in the future.

Recently, the Ministry of Commerce, the Central Internet Information Office, and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the "Guidelines for Foreign Investment and Cooperation in the Digital Economy", proposing to promote foreign investment and cooperation in the digital economy, while emphasizing the risks of going global. Be on guard. Among them, data security and data export management are emphasized. The guidelines encourage digital economy companies to improve their internal compliance systems and strictly implement my country's laws and regulations on data export security management. At the same time, it was mentioned that the data security management system should be improved, necessary technical measures should be taken to protect data security and personal information, and enterprises should be supported to safeguard their rights through legal means.

In terms of illegal resource and qualification management regulations, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will also focus on rectifying issues such as "black broadband" and failure to perform website registration procedures, including subletting or using illegal network access resources and failing to update registration information in a timely manner. Wait for the scene.

Public information shows that black broadband is also called "shanzhai broadband" or "black access". It refers to the public bandwidth obtained by units or individuals who have not obtained the access service qualifications permitted by the communications management department and use illegal channels. resources, providing Internet access services to ordinary users and thereby obtaining economic benefits.

As early as 2017, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the "Notice on Cleaning up and Regulating the Internet Network Access Service Market", requiring the Internet Data Center (IDC) business and Internet Access Service (ISP) business to be investigated and dealt with in accordance with the law. and illegal activities such as unlicensed operations, out-of-scope operations, and “layered subletting” in the content distribution network (CDN) business market.

In recent years, local governments and the three major operators have cracked down on "black broadband". For example, in 2017, Shenzhen launched a special campaign to crack down on illegal Internet broadband access, cleaning up 9,000 illegal broadband households in three urban villages in Nanshan District and destroying 11 "black broadband" dens. In the same year, the Guangzhou police destroyed 18 illegal Internet broadband criminal dens and detained 8 people. More than 9,500 users were involved, and the amount involved was more than 7 million yuan. In 2019, Xiamen City, Fujian Province issued the "Notice on Carrying out Special Actions to Combat "Black Broadband". More than 800 buildings operating "Black Broadband" have been rectified and rectified, involving nearly 10,000 end users.

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