China prohibits ad blocking in the country, AdBlock Plus v.

Two weeks ago, the Chinese authorities introduced a series of new rules to regulate online advertising and some other areas related to the Internet. These rules, apparently, will most likely affect Internet giants from China - Baidu and Alibaba.

In addition, the new rules, which will come into effect this fall, also prohibit ad blocking. A ban on ad blocking is specified in Article 16. The first to notice this were the employees of AdBlokPlus, a company that develops ad blockers for browsers, both for PCs and mobile devices.

Starting in the fall, China will prohibit "the use of network access, network devices, applications that violate or hide normal advertising information, distort or block advertising, or download advertising without permission." There are also restrictions on technical companies that “intercept, filter, or otherwise interfere with the normal course of an online advertising campaign.”



The State Industrial and Trade Administration of China (SAIC), which drafted these restrictions, does not act through the courts or fines. This department has the right to use public services to monitor the implementation of its instructions. The body has more authority than most similar organizations operating in other countries.

The creators of Adblock Plus oppose this initiative of the Chinese government. In particular, Ben Williams, head of the ABP (AdBlock Plus) business unit, said that the creation of new regulatory measures in China regarding advertising violates the fundamental rights of Chinese citizens. Now, according to company estimates, about 159 million users have installed AdBlock Plus in China, and ad blocking is their "inalienable right."

“There are several reasons why users should not be allowed to block ads. Take, for example, information security. Recently, it became known that in China, about 10 million Android smartphones were infected with malicious software that generated fake clicks on ads. I’m not saying that users will be absolutely safe using an ad blocker, but this tool and other tools that will be banned in the fall will reduce this risk, ”says Williams.

“The Chinese government is trying to establish control over the advertising industry, which means that they want to decide for themselves which ads need to be blocked and which not,” says another representative of AdBlock Plus. The company is now considering withdrawing from China in protest against the regulator’s actions.

At the same time, ad blockers, including AdBlock Plus, are opposed by a large number of publishers in different countries. In Germany, several lawsuits have even been filed against AdBlock Plus. But the company wonall cases where the legal legitimacy of the AdBlock Plus business model was called into question. This is a “white list” of advertisers whose ads are still skipped by an ad blocker. According to the company, this is "unobtrusive thematic advertising that may be useful to the user." As a rule, an advertiser must pay a certain amount to get to this list. Microsoft, Google and Amazon are on the list of allowed advertisers.