1 November
What happened on this date in privacy, anonymity networks and censorship. Every year on the same date we add a new look back and keep the earlier ones as they were.
2026
The switch for personalised recommendations in apps
In an assessment published in March 2023 by Shanghai's municipal consumer rights protection commission (republished by Sina Finance), all 10 commonly used apps tested had a way to turn off personalised recommendations (content picked from what you browse and tap), and only Xiaohongshu (RedNote) said that turning them off would not stop them entirely. China's Personal Information Protection Law took effect on 1 November 2021 and requires businesses that push information or marketing through automated decision-making (choosing content by a person's characteristics) to also offer an option not based on those characteristics or an easy way to refuse, and under the 2022 algorithmic recommendation provisions a provider must stop the related service immediately once a user switches recommendations off. State bodies handling personal information must also notify the people concerned under the 2021 law, unless other laws require confidentiality or notice would hinder the body in performing its statutory duties. The Personal Data Protection Act of Taiwan does not mention advertising or recommendations, and its Article 20 covers only marketing, with no requirement for a recommendation switch or an option not based on personal characteristics. Article 20(2) and (3) do require a business that uses personal data for marketing under that article to stop once you refuse and to offer a way to refuse the first time it markets to you, so readers in Taiwan can turn down marketing that uses their personal data (checked in October 2026).
Also on this day
- A Russian government resolution on a unified register of websites carrying banned information took effect, and once a site was on the register, telecom operators had to restrict access to it within 24 hours of the register being updated. Source: The Moscow Times
- Russia's "sovereign internet" law took effect, and Euronews reported that it lets the government cut the country's internet off from the global internet in situations such as a cyber-attack, which critics said could increase censorship. Source: Euronews