Ad creativity should not involve tormenting users. According to reports, a netizen recently shared an experience on social media: while driving on a highway ramp during a heavy rainstorm, they used AI voice commands to wake up their navigation app. The slight bump from passing over a road seam unexpectedly triggered the splash screen's "shake" ad mechanism, causing the navigation interface to instantly redirect to an e-commerce platform. In the frantic process of closing the ad, the steering wheel veered slightly, nearly causing an accident.
Ms. Li, a resident of Beijing, had a similar experience. A home monitoring app she frequently uses almost always triggers a "shake" redirect upon opening. "Out of 10 times I open the app, 8 times it redirects to a certain platform," Ms. Li said. She expressed that every time she opens the app, she has to hold her breath, fearing that if she doesn't hold the phone steadily, she'll be bounced to an ad page.
Such complaints are not isolated incidents. On the Black Cat Complaints platform, there have been over 2,600 complaints related to "shake-to-open" features, primarily focusing on splash screen ads disrupting normal use, malicious redirects to payment pages, and hidden close buttons or the inability to skip ads.
The root of the problem lies in the setting of sensor trigger thresholds. A software developer revealed that "shake" ads read data from the phone's accelerometer and gyroscope, using algorithms to judge shaking motions. Once the threshold is met, a redirect is executed. While compliance standards have clear requirements for rotation angle, acceleration, and operation time, in practice, some apps set the trigger sensitivity of the gyroscope and accelerometer at critical values, or even directly increase them. Natural swaying while walking or slight bumps while riding in a vehicle can thus be interpreted by the system as "user-initiated shaking."
A recent notification released by the MIIT showed that 26 apps and SDKs were found to infringe upon user rights. Violations mainly concentrated on illegal collection of personal information, frequent mandatory requests for permissions, unclosable information windows, or induced redirects. It is reported that the MIIT has cumulatively issued notifications for over 50 batches of apps infringing upon user rights.
Regulatory standards do exist. In 2023, under the guidance of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT), in collaboration with the Telecommunications Terminal Industry Association and several enterprises, developed and implemented relevant regulations. These explicitly require that the device acceleration for a "shake" action be no less than 15 meters per second squared, the rotation angle no less than 35 degrees, and the operation time no less than 3 seconds, to ensure that daily scenarios such as walking, riding in a vehicle, or picking up and putting down the phone do not accidentally trigger redirects. The standards also require apps to clearly inform users of the interactive actions and expected outcomes.
However, three years after the implementation of these standards, violations persist. On June 9 this year, the MIIT held a special meeting addressing the issue of some apps using highly sensitive "shake" mechanisms to induce违规 redirects during the "618" shopping festival. The ministry required relevant companies to immediately conduct self-inspections and rectifications, comprehensively review information window styles, establish online patrol mechanisms, and stated that violators would face interviews and app removal penalties in accordance with the law.