An ad for a zombie-killing game shows a skeleton driving a tank and firing its cannon. Another promoting a diet app features several scantily-clad women. A third employs a sexually suggestive scene to market a short-drama app.

These are just some of the ads pushed by Chinese child education app developer BabyBus. The company came under fire Wednesday when parents took to Chinese social media to complain that their children had been exposed to violent and cabian, or explicit, ads in the developer’s apps.

Founded in 2009, BabyBus is one of China’s largest digital content platforms for children aged 8 and under, with its nearly 200 apps having reached more than 700 million users across 160 countries. Its most popular apps include BabyBus Nursery Rhymes, Beihu Nursery Rhymes, Wisdom Tree, and Baby Panda World: Kids Games, which focus on promoting safety awareness, healthy habits, and language learning among children.

In an interview with local media, a resident in eastern Jiangsu province complained that the splash ads on BabyBus’s Nursery Rhymes feature sexually suggestive content. Clicking on such ads, which appear when the app is opened, redirects users to, or triggers downloads of, short-video, short-drama, or online literature apps.

Similar complaints have been made by parents nationwide regarding at least three other BabyBus apps.

The company issued an apology the same day on Chinese microblogging platform Weibo, saying it had removed all inappropriate contents and ended cooperation with the third-party advertising platform responsible for its in-app ads. 

Without an in-house advertising team, ads on BabyBus’s apps are drawn directly from third-party platforms, though the company blocks unsuitable content, a spokesperson told local media.

The company pledged to better review its advertising partners and promised to establish a research and development team to create an ad-blocking function to automatically intercept inappropriate advertisements.

But the company’s response failed to satisfy parents and critics who accused it of trying to shift responsibility onto “third-party advertisers.” China’s Advertising Law also requires platforms themselves to ensure the compliance of all advertisements they display with national law.

For example, China’s “Regulation on the Protection of Minors in Cyberspace” explicitly prohibits online educational products and services targeting minors from inserting gaming links and pushing advertisements or content unrelated to education.

Children’s educational apps often rely on advertising for funding, as directly having to pay for an app discourages downloads. According to a 2021 prospectus, advertising accounted for nearly 70% of BabyBus’s revenue. The company’s spokesperson stated its revenue structure has since changed, with advertising now accounting for less than 10% of its total earnings.

In light of these concerns, experts urged regulatory and industry reforms, including pre-screening and age-based classification of advertisements in children’s apps.

Meanwhile, parents reported that the scandal has impacted their trust in children’s apps. A mother of two expressed anger and fear over the incident on Weibo, saying she relied on the platform to keep her children entertained when exhausted from daily child care.

While both of her children enjoy BabyBus’s nursery rhymes, she said she’s now reluctant to let them use her phone unsupervised. 

“This incident is a wake-up call for all (creators of) children’s apps,” she said. “It’s fine to make money from ads, but please respect the bottom line! The world of children is pure; don’t let these obscene things pollute their eyes.”

Editor: Marianne Gunnarsson.

(Header image: Screenshots of vulgar and erotic ads appearing as users open BabyBus apps. From Weibo and reedited by Sixth Tone)