All targeted ads in China will have to explicitly labelled to show they have been driven by personal data, under proposed new data measures.
The proposed changes relate to all newsfeed and advertising content and will also require internet service providers to turn off recommendations and ads if a user requests so.
Other proposed regulations include approval from parents or guardians for personal information to be collected from minors under 14 years and prohibiting the routing of domestic internet traffic outside the country.
“The state is to persist in giving equal importance to safeguarding data security and development, encourage research and development of data security protection techniques, actively advance the development and use of data resources, and ensure the orderly and free flow of data in accordance with the law,” details the legislation.
The proposed changes are in part on the back of the success of video app Tik Tok.
Developed by Chinese company ByteDance, the Chinese version of the app Douyin has grown in popularity in recent times.
ByteDance is now valued at $US75 billion ($AUD107.6 billion), based largely on the success of its programmatic ads.
Its success has prompted other Chinese tech companies like Baidu, Tencent and Alibaba to introduce their own personalised advertising programs.
However, popular sites like Facebook and YouTube will likely be unaffected by these proposed changes due to the fact they are banned by the ‘Great Firewall of China’.
TechNode also reported that around 31 per cent of apps in China collect user data without asking for specific consent.
It continues the global trend of regulating data sharing to protect consumers.
Last year the European Union introduced its General Data Protection Regulation, while the Californian government has passed The California Consumer Privacy Act to protect the privacy of web users.
