China targets pop-up windows containing illegal content

BEIJING: China today announced plans to clean up internet pop-up windows that contain pornographic and illegal content.

The announcement by Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) to clean up pop-ups came after a meeting between the CAC, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the State Administration for Industry & Commerce which concluded in Beijing today.

Pop-up windows, one of the primary methods of spreading harmful content online, regularly contain pornography and computer viruses, state-run Xinhua news agency quoted an official as saying.

Slated to start in the near future, authorities will push operators to edit and supervise the contents of pop-up windows on their websites, according to a statement issued after the meeting.

A stricter protocol will also be imposed for operators installing pop-ups.

They are banned from using the method to advertise without the consent of users and users should be able to close these windows by one click, the statement said.

Operators are also urged not to install "too many" as to avoid souring the users experience.

The statement, however, did not define what was "too many".

According to the CAC, 1200 commonly used programs or websites have installed pop-up advertisements and about 500 of them pop up more than 1,000 advertisements daily.

The CAC welcomes the public to tip off malpractice regarding pop-up windows, the statement said.