"However, social game advertisements appear frequently... Nandu Big Data Research Institute has launched a series of investigations into non-compliance in mobile app stores in recent days. On August 11, it exposed problems with the "Mi Meng" application in Xiaomi App Store. (See the report for details: Promotional routines? Games without licenses frequently appear in the Xiaomi App Store, excessive claims for rights, and crazy traffic)

As of August 14, Xiaomi has not responded to the above issues, but " The apps named in the report were "secretly" removed from the shelves, while a large number of other apps with similar problems were still allowed.

* Nandu exposed Xiaomi promotion application problems

The named application has been removed from the shelves

Reports pointed out that among the top-ranked applications in the Xiaomi App Store, such as Games such as "Smart Little Brother", "Rhythm Jump Tower-Follow the Rhythm of the Music", "Hang Up to Raise Dinosaurs" and "Rescue the Girl", as well as "Scary Granny", "Sakura Campus-College Simulation" and "Unlock King", which have been ranked among the "Host List" of games. "The game version number is not displayed in many games, and "this game is not found" in many official channels such as the National Press and Publication Administration's "Game Approval Result Inquiry List" and the Game Working Committee's "Game Version Number Inquiry System".

In addition, many "unlicensed" game applications have problems such as too frequent advertisements and excessive claims for rights. These advertisements mostly appear in the form of opening screens, interstitial screens, information streams, banners, etc., and appear frequently during startup, login, and game processes to divert traffic to other apps. The close button also often "fails". After accidentally clicking on the page, it will directly Jump to Xiaomi App Store and automatically download related applications. Similar advertising redirection behavior exists in these apps that are induced to be downloaded. Several games such as "Minecraft Summer Edition", "My Earth World" and "My Adventure World" also require location and reading information. Permissions that have nothing to do with game functions such as writing address book information, reading and writing photos and files, and accessing mobile phone accounts.

Nandu reporters also discovered that these games are all member applications of the Xiaomi Mobile Advertising Alliance, and they make money by sharing advertising from the "Mi Alliance".

On August 14, a reporter from Nandu checked the Xiaomi App Store again and found that all the mentioned games had silently "disappeared", and no "Mi Meng" advertisements were seen in these games that had been downloaded. . And when searching for "infants" and "children", "irrelevant" dating and mahjong games no longer appear.

100 popular games, 1/4 have no version number

Advertising revenue exceeded 10 billion last year, how to "make money" by promoting problematic applications?

Nandu reporters noticed that only the "report roll call" applications were removed from the shelves, while a large number of similar applications are still on the shelves.

In the game rankings on August 14, 1/4 of the top 100 games were games without license numbers, such as "Unzip Treasure Box", "Colorful Rhythm 3D" and "Stickman Showdown" "Digging Up", "Scary Neighbors", "Hide and Seek", "Raft Survival", "Real Racing 3", "Ultraman Fighting Evolution 0", "Sakura School", "Hello Kitty Flight Adventure" and "Between Us" "NBA 2K20", "Super Class Representative", "Weird Chicken Party", "Travel China", "Star Wars Simulator - Planet Destruction", "Stickman Rope Hero", "Piano Tiles 2020", "Space Werewolf 3D", "College Simulation" "Minecraft", "Snake Evolution"... Among them, "Minecraft Chinese Edition", "Minecraft Christmas Edition", "Horror Granny 3"... and the same unlicensed games as the "Roll Name" application developers are all included. The problem rectification is too careless!

According to relevant reports, Xiaomi’s core is mobile phone manufacturing, but Xiaomi’s hardware comprehensive after-tax net profit margin in 2020 is only 1%. Advertising business revenue is an important tool for Xiaomi to make up for its net profit. During the epidemic last year, China's advertising expenditures fell by 11.6% year-on-year, but Xiaomi's advertising business bucked the trend and surged. Xiaomi's advertising revenue in 2020 reached 12.7 billion.

In previous interviews, some experts pointed out that the "open" advertising services provided by the Xiaomi App Store have become "pipeline". When a large amount of advertising demand pours in, strict review rules and regulations will be needed. The review process should be constrained to avoid promoting "problematic applications".

Narada Big Data Research Institute

Network Content Ecological Governance Research Center