Immediate Commentary | Curbing "Shake-to-Open" Splash Ads Cannot Be a Short-Lived Effort

Have you ever been bothered by "shake-to-open" splash ads? Earlier, a car owner described this harrowing experience: while driving, they used voice commands to open a navigation app, and a slight bump in the road triggered the highly sensitive shake-to-open ad, which directly covered the navigation route page and forcibly redirected to an external webpage. The driver was forced to divert attention to switch back, making rear-end collisions and fender benders all too likely. Some ads cost you money — but this kind of shake-to-open ad could cost you your life.

Recently, regulators struck again. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) issued a notice on apps and SDKs that infringe on user rights, naming seven apps involving unauthorized window redirects, including redirects triggered by clicking on information windows or swiping within them.

Under the crackdown, initial results are visible. Topics such as "Multiple apps remove splash ads" and "Shake-to-open redirect feature taken offline" have trended on social media, bringing phased improvements to user experience. However, judging from widespread user feedback, the effectiveness of the regulation remains uneven. Many users still frequently encounter unwanted pop-ups and forced redirects.

Faced with this "uneven" progress, one cannot help but ask: Are these apps deploying different strategies on different phone models and system versions — treating users unequally? Will the apps that still haven't removed splash ads or shake-to-open redirects eventually follow suit?

So the question is: Should the fight against "shake-to-open" splash ads last for a while, or for good? Are platforms simply lying low to weather the storm, or have they genuinely turned over a new leaf?

In fact, China has long established clear technical standards and regulatory red lines for shake-to-open ad abuse. As early as 2023, the MIIT issued evaluation standards that clearly defined trigger parameters such as device acceleration and rotation angles, strictly prohibiting high-sensitivity accidental-trigger inducement. In 2025, the National Information Security Standardization Technical Committee further refined the standards and issued special practice guidelines, firmly anchoring the compliance thresholds for shake-to-open ads from a technical perspective. Despite layer upon layer of rules, the problem persists, exposing a侥幸 mentality among some platforms that prioritize traffic over compliance.

After wave after wave of regulation, we must remain vigilant. Once the heat dies down, major apps may stage a comeback, resurrecting various redirect tactics and using coercive means to capture ad traffic.

Relying solely on platforms' voluntary rectification is clearly insufficient to cure this chronic problem. To eradicate this "digital牛皮癣," we must establish normalized, rigid regulatory mechanisms. Regulators must strictly enforce established technical standards, hold platforms accountable, standardize the design of ad-close buttons, eliminate hidden close-entry points, and rigidly enforce shake-to-open trigger thresholds — cutting off accidental redirects at the technical source. At the same time, penalties must be intensified, with severe punishment for repeat offenders and platforms that engage in fraudulent rectification, ensuring that the cost of non-compliance truly matches the harm caused, and彻底 breaking the industry's惯性 of "rectify and move on, low-cost violations."

Monetizing traffic is a normal business model for the internet industry, and it is understandable for platforms to reasonably place ads to share operating costs. But commercial gains must never take precedence over users' legitimate rights and public safety, nor should they come at the expense of sacrificing users' right to choose, eroding user trust, or creating road safety hazards.

The "shake-to-open" splash ad redirect problem directly affects driving safety and is far more than a simple user experience issue. State authorities have repeatedly issued directives, and regulatory actions have come in waves. This cannot be a temporary effort that fades after the storm passes. The pop-up redirect problem must be eliminated thoroughly, comprehensively, and permanently.