Mobile marketing in China blocked by unwanted advertising
China Mobile, China’s largest cell phone operator, has apologized for the shortcomings in its management system that allowed mass dissemination of unwanted advertising messages to about half of the country’s mobile phone users. China Mobile on Wednesday committed to block short messages from seven Internet advertising firms that arbitrarily sent short advertising messages to more than 200 million cell phone users whose personal information was in the hands of companies, by means of the two operators of this type of services in the country, China Mobile and China Unicom.
This situation caused strong discomfort among consumers and received a strong public condemnation and a large number of complaints in the annual program of China Central Television (CCTV) on March 15, World Consumer Rights Day. “As the mobile phone operator, we have the obligation to block unwanted advertising messages, we assume our unavoidable responsibility in this case,” said Xu Ming, manager of marketing operations, in response to information from CCTV.
A spokesman for China Mobile said his firm will work with the parties concerned to clarify the regulations on the identification and blocking of unwanted advertising messages, as well as develop technology to stop and monitor the issuance of such texts. Jiang Nanchun, President of Focus Media, apologized for this incident, while the company announced in a statement that it has required its branches to suspend the services of these short messages. China has 555 million mobile phone users whose personal information is easily exchanged between sellers who require buyers to leave their personal information and advertising companies through the Internet that can send unwanted messages to specific groups under the guidance that they give them. offers this information.
In China, there is no legal basis for imposing sanctions on those responsible for trading arbitrarily with personal information, said Zhou Hanhua, researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. At the same time the company announced in a statement that it has required its branches to suspend the services of these short messages. China has 555 million mobile phone users whose personal information is easily exchanged between sellers who require buyers to leave their personal information and advertising companies through the Internet that can send unwanted messages to specific groups under the guidance that they give them. offers this information. In China, there is no legal basis for imposing sanctions on those responsible for trading arbitrarily with personal information, said Zhou Hanhua, researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. At the same time the company announced in a statement that it has required its branches to suspend the services of these short messages.
China has 555 million mobile phone users whose personal information is easily exchanged between sellers who require buyers to leave their personal information and advertising companies through the Internet that can send unwanted messages to specific groups under the guidance that they give them. offers this information. In China, there is no legal basis for imposing sanctions on those responsible for trading arbitrarily with personal information, said Zhou Hanhua, researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. China has 555 million mobile phone users whose personal information is easily exchanged between sellers who require buyers to leave their personal information and advertising companies through the Internet that can send unwanted messages to specific groups under the guidance that they give them. offers this information.
In China, there is no legal basis for imposing sanctions on those responsible for trading arbitrarily with personal information, said Zhou Hanhua, researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. China has 555 million mobile phone users whose personal information is easily exchanged between sellers who require buyers to leave their personal information and advertising companies through the Internet that can send unwanted messages to specific groups under the guidance that they give them. offers this information. In China, there is no legal basis for imposing sanctions on those responsible for trading arbitrarily with personal information, said Zhou Hanhua, researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
