China promulgated laws prohibiting the use of advertisement blocking software

ByJoe The Goat Farmer

The Chinese government promulgated the law "to prohibit the use of advertisement blocking software in China". Adblock Plus, a leading ad blocking software, criticizes as "a deprivation of basic rights and threatening the security of Chinese Internet users."

Adblock Plus and (a little) more: The lonely bully: China issues edict to ban ad blockers
https://adblockplus.org/blog/the-lonely-bully-china-issues-edict-to-ban-ad-blockers

According to Ben Williams, chief developer of Adblock Plus, there are approximately 159 million users who use the ad blocking function when using mobile terminals in China. On the desktop terminal, it seems that users of the ad blocking function are relatively few users. However, according to the newly issued laws of the Chinese government, regardless of the type of terminal, from September 2016 the use of the advertisement blocking function will be banned in China.

The "State Administration of Industry and Commerce Administration ②" promulgated on July 4, 2016 by the Chinese government can read the full text from the following page.

National People's Republic of China State Industry and Commerce Administration
http://www.saic.gov.cn/zwgk/zyfb/zjl/xxzx/201607/t20160708_169638.html


This new law is aimed at defining elements that make up advertisements on the Internet. In addition, because there are many advertisements that cause incorrect contents or misunderstandings such as medicines, tobacco, health products, medical supplies, pet chemicals, insecticides, etc., advertisement that the government needs permission to advertise It is stipulated by laws and ordinances. In addition, it clearly distinguishes the advertisement displayed on the search result screen from the search result, and it is stipulated that it is necessary for the advertiser to be responsible for the reliability of the advertisement.

In addition, this law has an item "prohibit the use of ad blocking function". Williams argues, "Ad blocking software is developed to regain the power of users, so banning ad blocking functions will deprive users of basic rights."

Williams strongly insists on "online security" as a reason for using the ad blocking function. In China, not all applications distributed on Google Play can be freely downloaded. As a result, there are frequent cases where malware is infected by installing applications from places other than Google Play, and about 10 million Android smartphones in China are infected with malware. Williams stated that "ad blocking software is effective to prevent infection of malware," further stated that ad blocking software is useful for reducing page load time, privacy protection, and data usage reduction It is.

Williams says, "If necessary Adblock Plus will take distance from the Chinese government and give priority to protecting users."