What can be done about a barrage of advertising text messages?
Downloading an app or buying something online is often followed by a flood of marketing texts that cannot be unsubscribed, even where the message invites a reply of "T". Sending bulk advertising without the recipient's consent breaches the Advertising Law and the rules on short message services, which carry fines of up to RMB 30,000. Consumers can report the sender to the 12321 centre for spam and unwanted online information or to the market supervision authorities, ask their telecoms operator to block such messages, and sue where their personal information has been disclosed.
Many readers will recognise this. An app is downloaded, or a purchase made online, and for some time afterwards a stream of junk advertising texts arrives. The messages cannot be unsubscribed even though many of them say that replying "T" will stop them, and plenty of users report that the texts keep coming after they reply. The Double 11 shopping festival pushed the practice to a peak, with a mass of useless messages arriving every day. They are intensely irritating, and the clutter sometimes causes important messages, such as bank or credit card payment reminders, to be missed. Is there really nothing to be done about this barrage?
The starting point is that a business sending bulk advertising without the user's consent is likely to be in breach of the Advertising Law and of the Provisions on the Administration of Short Message Services.
Article 63 of the Advertising Law of the People's Republic of China provides:
A party that sends advertising in breach of Article 43 of the Law, which provides that no unit or individual may send advertising to another's residence or vehicle, or send advertising by electronic means, without that person's consent or request, and that advertising sent by electronic means must display the sender's true identity and contact details and offer the recipient a means of refusing further messages, is ordered by the relevant department to stop the unlawful conduct and is fined not less than RMB 5,000 and not more than RMB 30,000.
A party that, in breach of Article 44(2) of the Law, publishes advertising on the internet without prominently displaying a close button that works with a single click is ordered by the market supervision and administration department to correct the position and is fined not less than RMB 5,000 and not more than RMB 30,000.
The Provisions on the Administration of Short Message Services issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology also state expressly that a provider of short message services or of short message content may not send commercial short messages to a user without that user's consent or request, and that a breach is punishable by a fine of not less than RMB 10,000 and not more than RMB 30,000.
Bombarding mobile users with advertising texts is therefore plainly unlawful, yet businesses continue to send them in volume. There are two reasons. First, many businesses have a weak sense of the law, do not respect the consumer's right to choose what information to receive, and do not realise that what they are doing breaches the rules. Second, telecoms operators have not done their part, and the regulators have not supervised many of the platforms concerned properly.
Curbing this mass sending of junk advertising texts calls for strict enforcement by the regulators, and for e-commerce platforms to impose some restraint on their merchants and to remind them of their obligations. Telecoms operators should also place technical limits on the sending of advertising in large volumes within a short period.
Consumers can act themselves by complaining and reporting. Junk texts can be reported to the 12321 centre for reporting spam and unwanted online information, and a business's unlawful conduct can be reported to the market supervision and administration department.
Everyone is busy, however, and few have the time or energy to report these businesses day after day. The quickest way to stop the flood of junk advertising texts is to call the service provider and ask for the relevant text-blocking service.
Where a business's conduct involves disclosing users' personal information, a consumer may also sue in court and require the business to bear tort liability. In serious cases the conduct may infringe citizens' personal information and amount to an offence under the Criminal Law.
As Guangming Daily put it: "The low cost of sending and the ceiling of a RMB 30,000 fine have allowed the barrage of advertising texts to grow worse. Along this chain of unlawful advertising messages, the e-commerce platform, the business that buys the service, the seller with a weak sense of the law and the telecoms operator can none of them be excused."