File Photo:VCG

 
Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in China issued the No.3 report addressing recent telecom service quality, specifically referring to an ongoing regulation campaign targeting mobile apps that infringe users’ rights.

The ministry had investigated over 360,000 mobile apps present in the Chinese domestic market. A total of 569 mobile apps were found to have exceeded, forced and frequently requested access to personal information of users. There were 291 mobile apps with issues flagged by the regulator before a designated deadline and had since been penalized, 48 apps had been removed entirely after failing to address flagged concerns.   

The report also mentioned the special regulation campaign targeting issues of pop-up, including extremely small close buttons, aggressive push information and fake advertisement. By the end of the second quarter of 2021, reported number of pop-up windows had decreased by 50 percent from last quarter, and related number of complaints from users being dragged into hard-to-close ads decreased 80 percent. 

In addition, 162 telecom industry companies were reviewed, with 24 companies receiving administrative penalties and being placed on a government list of “problematic” companies, said the report. 

The report also outlined efforts to better protect consumers including addressing junk information issues and notifications from telecom businesses operators. 

Global Times