Die „Schütteln Sie Ihr Handy“-Werbung wurde endlich reguliert, aber ich traue mich immer noch nicht, mit meinem Finger willkürlich auf dem Bildschirm zu tippen.

The annual "618 Shopping Festival" has arrived as planned, and the homepage advertisements of the most popular apps are gradually being taken over by a few e - commerce platforms. You are used to clicking on "Skip Ad" in the top - right corner, but you're not sure if it was a tremor of your right hand or you didn't click accurately. Suddenly, the fiery welcome page of the e - commerce app pops up.

You sigh and angrily turn off this unwanted shopping app. The mood for passing the time is almost gone, and you even forget what you were going to do with your phone.

Even when it's not a shopping festival, the "Shake Ads" are still active. You never know when they'll appear, only that it takes at least 5 seconds to remove them each time. Once, twice, countless times - these few seconds stolen by the ads gradually eat away at the already fragmented lives of ordinary people.

Even Tim, the founder of FilmForce, has criticized how extreme the "Shake Ads" are. (Image/Bilibili @Crossroads of Luo Yonghao)

People have long suffered from the "Shake Ads", and even the state can no longer bear it.

The Information and Communication Administration of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (hereinafter referred to as "MIIT") recently stated that during special e - commerce events like the "618", some apps on the homepage and in pop - up information windows mislead users into clicking in an illegal way or cause false triggers and redirections through highly sensitive "Shake" functions. The affected companies are required to take corrective measures immediately. In case of violations, they will be dealt with in accordance with regulations, publicly named, and the apps may be removed from the app stores.

Shortly before the "618" this year, the Information and Communication Administration of the MIIT held a special conference and required all affected companies to immediately conduct a self - inspection and correction of the display of app information windows, including the "Shake Ads". (Image/MIIT)

The MIIT's wording is very strict. So, is it the end of the good times for these "digital barnacles"? To actually achieve this, the firm hand of the regulatory authorities alone is probably not enough.

1

Shake Ads, the Cancer of Business

No one outside the advertising industry has a positive view of the "Shake Ads".

The key point is that they are truly "barnacles" in every way - they take advantage of the forced visibility of homepage ads and the sensitivity of the gyroscope and accelerometer of smartphones to detect the moments when you lift your hand, take a step, or even just have a slight tremor in your fingertips.

The "Shake Ads" take advantage of the sensitivity of the gyroscope and accelerometer of smartphones. (Image/《News Queen》)

The "Shake Ads" are like a bad hooligan smoking at the village entrance. Whether the girl wants to talk to him or not, he whistles as soon as she passes by. The "Shake Ads" abuse your eyes in this way, waste your time, occupy your storage, and distract your attention. They are everywhere and unavoidable.

Even these ads don't necessarily have to be from e - commerce platforms. They can also be fake ads that are actually forced download buttons. Even I, who am experienced in using smartphones, have been hit by these "fake ads" several times and have been forced to download an e - commerce app that claims to give "cash gifts". As a result, I've wasted dozens of MB of data volume unnecessarily.

If young people can easily fall into the trap, what about the elderly who are not good at using smartphones? On social media, many Internet users have complained that strange apps often appear on their elderly family members' smartphones, which "keep coming back like weeds and are impossible to remove". Only after a thorough investigation was it found that the "Shake Ads" were to blame.

Many elderly people don't know where the "Shake Ads" come from and how to stop the pop - ups. (Image/《Old Female Friends》)

Since users are harassed by the "Shake Ads" everywhere, there are naturally many mocking stories on the Internet. But it's hard to imagine that these things first appeared under the banner of "innovation".

And in just a few years, the "Shake Ads" have become a "monster" that has conquered all smartphones. How immoral is this "innovation"? They can be found in all social and entertainment apps, which users can still understand. But when they appear in rigid contexts like map navigation, subway tickets, campus schedules, and parcel lockers, they can probably be called the cancer of business that doesn't take people's lives into account.

When such situations occur, angry users still don't understand whether the brands are treating them like fools or testing their patience.

Some have even sued app developers in court because of the "Shake Ads". (Image/Henan TV Urban Channel)

2

Restriction of Shake Ads

Supervision is Only a Part

Before the MIIT made this statement, the regulatory authority has actually always paid attention to this "innovation".

Since July 2021, the MIIT, the market regulatory authority, the central Internet authority, and other authorities have issued several regulations, clarifying that ads must have a clearly visible "Skip/Close" button and the label "Click leads to a third - party"; redirection can only occur by clicking on a specific area; users must not be deceived or misled; there must not be frequent pop - up ads; ads must be able to be closed with one click, and so on.

In 2022, the MIIT, together with the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT), the Telecommunication Terminal Industry Association, and several leading companies in the industry, developed the "Evaluation Standards for the Protection of App User Rights - Part 7: Deception, Misleading, and Coercive Behavior" (Group Standard T/TAF 078.7 - 2022). This standard defines the relevant parameters for the shake - redirection page, including the condition that the device acceleration during the "Shake" action must be at least 15 m/s² (about 1.5 times the acceleration due to gravity), the rotation angle must be at least 35°, and the operation time must be at least 3 seconds.

The "Evaluation Standards for the Protection of App User Rights - Part 7: Deception, Misleading, and Coercive Behavior" (Group Standard T/TAF 078.7 - 2022) have set clear standards for the "Shake Ads".

The "Regulations on Internet Advertising", which came into effect on May 1, 2023, also stipulate that when publishing Internet ads in pop - up form, the advertiser and the ad publisher must clearly mark the close symbol and ensure the possibility of one - click closing. There must be no actions that affect one - click closing. This also applies to homepage ads that are displayed or published when an Internet application is launched.

It's just that "where there's a rule, there's a way around it". Most apps still play the same old trick and continue to mislead users into the trap. Soon, some people noticed that there are variants in smartphones such as "turn the phone over", "tilt forward to open", and "swipe up to open". Some ads even have a vibration effect, "vibrate once, then redirect".

Some Internet users are even more worried about whether the front - facing camera of their phone will be the next target of advertisers: "If there's a 'Blink' function in the future, do you have to wear sunglasses to use the phone?"

The regulatory authorities took early measures against the "Shake Ads", but most apps "circumvent the regulations". (Image/《Across the Furious Sea》)

The technological invasion of daily life is ultimately driven by commercial interests. Advertising itself is a business, but this time it's in the technological guise of the "Shake" function.

In the Internet age, the click has replaced the display as the main form of advertising. After placing an ad, there are three main payment models: CPM (payment per thousand impressions), CPA (payment per action), and CPC (payment per click). The revenues obtained can vary greatly.

Therefore, in the eyes of the advertising alliance, homepage advertising is the most valuable advertising space. Since the "Shake Ads" use the CPC model and the minimum price is very low (between 0.1 and 2 yuan), advertisers are willing to pay this cheap money, even if users are passively redirected.

As for problems such as the "Shake" function being triggered by a slight tilt of the phone or the delayed display of the close button, the answers lie in the parameter settings of the app (SDK). These parameters are trade secrets for most users and are not disclosed.

Under these closed - loop systems, the advertising alliance, the platform, and the advertiser have achieved their respective KPIs, and only the users are left as the losers in the end. In other words, the time that you and I have had stolen by the "Shake Ads" has been successfully monetized.

The ubiquitous "Shake Ads" enable the advertising alliance, the platform, and the advertiser to achieve their respective KPIs, and the users are the only losers. (Image/《The Unrivaled Internet Celebrity》)

Naturally, users don't have to just passively accept it. Since 2023, some Android manufacturers have begun to give users the option to disable the "Shake Ads" through system updates.