Beijing’s municipal government and three leading internet firms join forces to tackle robocalling phone nuisance
- Baidu, Sogou and Qihoo 360 agree to block telemarketing software ads
- Agreement involves measures to deal with calls at source and blacklist culprits
The municipal government in Beijing is in talks with three major Chinese internet firms – including Baidu, China’s answer to Google – to block adverts for robocalling software on their platforms.
Search engines Baidu and Sogou, and the antivirus software maker Qihoo 360, agreed to a “comprehensive clean-up and investigation” to block ads from telemarketing software such as Miaochi and the app Gaihao, the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Communications said on Monday.
The directive to shut down nuisance calls involved 13 government agencies, including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
In July, the ministry launched a campaign against internet and telephone fraud. One unintended consequence was that in southwestern Guangxi Zhuang, the homes of suspected scammers were daubed with graffiti accusing them of fraud.
The communications bureau said the three firms would “strictly implement the requirements of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Beijing government’s request to deal with spam calls at source, conduct a comprehensive investigation of problems and immediately carry out rectification work”.