WeChat Moments ads cannot be closed and are named. Official response: Strengthen ad review

On December 16, the Shanghai Consumer Council released the "App Advertising Consumer Rights Protection Evaluation Report (2020)", which pointed out that the WeChat App has problems such as ads cannot be turned off with one click, the process of turning off personalized ad recommendations is cumbersome, and pushed ads are suspected of false propaganda.

In response, WeChat said that it attaches great importance to feedback and opinions from all parties and will continue to optimize the product experience. At the same time, it will continue to strengthen advertising review and inspection, standardize advertiser behavior, and provide better products and services.

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Previously, the Shanghai Consumer Council pointed out in a report that not only are the privacy policy rules of the WeChat App lengthy and complex, but the entrance to shut down personalized advertising recommendations is not only extremely hidden, but the shutdown process is also cumbersome to set up .

In addition, WeChat also uses technical means to limit consumers' right to permanently turn off personalized advertising recommendations . Consumers can only turn it off for six months and will still see ads.

The Consumer Protection Committee also pointed out that the advertisements pushed on WeChat Moments contain problems such as suspected false propaganda and concealment of advertising (sales) entities.

It is understood that Article 44 of the Advertising Law stipulates: "The use of the Internet to publish and send advertisements shall not affect the normal use of the Internet by users. Advertisements published on Internet pages in the form of pop-ups or other forms shall be clearly marked with a close sign to ensure that they can be closed with one click."

In fact, compared to many apps, WeChat is relatively restrained in terms of advertising. At least it never misses a splash screen ad on the startup interface.

Zhang Xiaolong explained last year why WeChat doesn't have splash screen ads, which was a breath of fresh air: "Because the people you add on WeChat are all your closest people. Is it okay to take off the ads on your face every time you meet your closest people?"