Jakarta – After series of attempt to solve this issue through communication, today idEA (Indonesian E-Commerce Association) and IDA (Indonesian Digital Association) officially denounce the intrusive advertising practice by telco operators: XL Axiata and Telkomsel. There are 39 sites from idEA and 21 sites from IDA that voice this objection and urge them to stop the practice immediately.
There are generally two types of advertising in this practice, which are the interstitial ads and the off-deck ads. The interstitial ads fill the entire users’ screen before they go to the intended address, while the off-deck ads are inserted on the top section of the page. This practice has impacted both local and international sites alike, accessed using mobile connection from the operators.
The primary concern from both associations is the fact that this advertisement is being published without the consent and cooperation with the site owners, whereas public perception assumes the responsibility from site owners for every advertisement being published in their properties. Consequently, site owners have received complaints from their users concerning these ads.
From consumer perspective, these ads are clearly annoying their browsing comfort. Though operators claim to provide benefit for users who view the ads, there are no transparent communication and procedure on how to opt-in or to opt-out.
Other concerns revoke around the content of the advertisement. There are several instances of inappropriate contents, such as sexual related graphics. The content could also lead to unhealthy business competition, in which a company’s ads could appear on their direct competitor’s site.
From legal standpoint, this is violating several government acts about information & electronic transaction, as well as consumer protection. This is also contradicting to the ethical codes from Indonesian Advertising Board. In the world where DNS (Domain Name System) have been properly structured, each URL (Uniform Resource Locator) must lead to each respective destination. This sort of hostile redirection from operators could be categorized as hijacking for monetary benefit.
Both idEA and IDA have separately taken numerous communication efforts to solve this issue. idEA have tried to invite each of the telco companies, whether through their association (Indonesian Cellular Telecommunication Association) or individually, in many instances. However, this matter hasn’t been taken seriously by them.
In the meantime, IDA has initiated a formal communication with Telkomsel and XL Axiata since September 2013. After series of discussion, both operators have formally stated that they had ceased the advertisement from all IDA members’ site. Nevertheless, some sites have seen the advertisement back without any prior notice. This is a blatant inconsistency from the operators’ side.
“We really disappointed with the negligence from operators toward this issue. Hopefully, users and other site owners could together voice their concern. We are still quite optimistic to find a mutual solution, if only every stakeholders show their willingness for constructive discussion,” said Daniel Tumiwa as the Chairman of idEA.
