On 2 March 2022, the Cyberspace Administration of China ("CAC") issued the draft Administrative Regulations on Internet Pop-up Push Notifications (互联网弹窗信息推送服务管理规定(征求意见稿) ("Draft Regulations"), signalling the further tightening of regulations on the Internet content in China.
The Draft Regulations apply to the provision of push notification services through operating systems, terminal devices, application software, websites and such other services within the territory of the People's Republic of China. The application scope is broad enough to cover almost all electronic devices that can access the Internet.
With an intention to build a healthy and positive network, the Draft Regulations set out some restrictions on the content of push notifications in Article 5, such as:
- prohibition on illegal and negative information as defined in the Provisions on Governance of Network Information Content Ecology (网络信息内容生态治理规定);
- prohibition on push notifications containing news reports without Internet news information services licenses;
- requiring push notifications containing news reports to adhere to additional rules, including a requirement for the source of news to come from the list of government-approved news sources published by CAC in October 2021;
- prohibition on using algorithm models that violate laws and regulations or violate ethics by inducing users to become addicted and consume excessively;
- prohibition on abusing algorithms to profile minor users and pushing information to minor users that may affect their physical and mental health; and
- push notifications containing advertisements should be conspicuously marked "Advertisement" and can be turned off with one click.
In the event of non-compliance with the Draft Regulations, the push notification service providers will be subject to warnings, fines, suspension of capacity to supply push notification services, and even suspension of business operations.
