Data Protection Monitor
Global Privacy & Data Protection Intelligence

China (CN) · Module Detail

China: AdTech & Commercial Privacy

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Algorithm-transparency and anti-price-discrimination rules are enacted and enforced, but cookie-consent, opt-out-signal and clean-room-specific regimes are absent from China's framework.

Primary frameworkProvisions on the Management of Algorithmic Recommendations in Internet Information Services (2022); PIPL Art 24
Supervisory authorityCyberspace Administration of China (CAC)
Traffic-light rationale — AmberAlgorithm-transparency and anti-price-discrimination rules are enacted and enforced, but cookie-consent, opt-out-signal and clean-room-specific regimes are absent from China's framework.

Sub-modules (6)

Cookies And TrackersRed

No standalone ePrivacy-equivalent cookie/tracker consent statute was identified for China; tracking technologies are governed generally through PIPL's consent framework rather than a dedicated cookie law.

Dark PatternsAmber

Joint CAC/MIIT/MPS/SAMR enforcement campaigns have targeted apps for harassing pop-up windows and illegal collection of contact-list/location data, functioning as de facto anti-dark-pattern enforcement absent a codified prohibition.

Claims (1):

  • MIIT, CAC, MPS and SAMR jointly conducted enforcement campaigns (2020–2021) against apps engaging in illegal collection and use of personal information and harassing pop-up notifications, functioning as enforcement against dark-pattern-style practices absent a codified statutory prohibition.

Opt Out SignalsRed

No Global Privacy Control or DAA-equivalent standardized opt-out signal mechanism was identified in China's regulatory framework.

Clean Rooms And DcrRed

No data-clean-room or data-collaboration-room-specific regulatory regime was identified for China in this research pass.

Cross Context AdvertisingAmber

The 2022 Provisions on the Management of Algorithmic Recommendations regulate algorithms used for content recommendation and targeted advertising, requiring transparency and fairness and prohibiting practices that disrupt public order.

Claims (1):

  • The Provisions on the Management of Algorithmic Recommendations in Internet Information Services (effective 1 March 2022) regulate algorithms used for content recommendation, requiring transparency and fairness and prohibiting practices that disrupt public order, including personalized price discrimination.

Direct MarketingGreen

PIPL Article 24 requires that where handlers use automated decision-making for business marketing or push notifications, they must simultaneously offer options not targeting an individual's personal characteristics, or provide a simple means of rejection.

Claims (1):

  • PIPL requires that personal information processors conducting business marketing to individuals through automated decision-making simultaneously provide options that do not target an individual's personal characteristics, or offer ways for individuals to reject such marketing.
Category narrative65 words

China lacks a discrete ePrivacy-style cookie-consent statute; commercial-privacy governance instead runs through PIPL's ADM/marketing rule (Art 24) and the CAC's 2022 Provisions on Algorithmic Recommendations, which mandate algorithm transparency/fairness and prohibit practices disrupting public order, including personalized price discrimination. Dark-pattern-style practices (e.g., harassing pop-ups, undisclosed data collection) have been targeted by joint MIIT/SAMR/CAC/MPS enforcement sweeps. No Global-Privacy-Control-equivalent opt-out signal or dedicated clean-room/data-collaboration-room regime was identified.

Sources and claims (3)
  1. ProbableIAPP — MIIT, CAC, MPS and SAMR jointly conducted enforcement campaigns (2020–2021) against apps engaging in illegal collection and use of personal information and harassing pop-up notifications, functioning as enforcement against dark-pattern-style practices absent a codified statutory prohibition.observed
  2. ProbableCyberspace Administration of China — The Provisions on the Management of Algorithmic Recommendations in Internet Information Services (effective 1 March 2022) regulate algorithms used for content recommendation, requiring transparency and fairness and prohibiting practices that disrupt public order, including personalized price discrimination.observed
  3. ProbableIAPP — PIPL requires that personal information processors conducting business marketing to individuals through automated decision-making simultaneously provide options that do not target an individual's personal characteristics, or offer ways for individuals to reject such marketing.observed