Pop-up ad accused of delaying life-saving call during Chinese woman’s heart attack sparks debate

A Chinese man has accused a phone company's lock screen feature of causing his mother's death by delaying his father from calling an ambulance during her heart attack. On September 10, 19-year-old Zhang shared on social media that his mother passed away from a heart attack on August 30 at around 4am. His father tried to call the emergency number 120, but accidentally navigated to the phone's magazine page instead of unlocking the device.

Frustrated, the father had to seek help from neighbors, which delayed the mother's rescue efforts. According to the death certificate, the mother was pronounced dead at home at 5.51am. The Honor phone in question uses a "Magic Pictorial" feature, which displays magazine pages with potential advertisements that users can access without unlocking the phone.

Zhang initially sought compensation from the company, but his requests were denied. After deleting his post and issuing an apology, Honor expressed empathy for Zhang's distress and decided not to hold him legally responsible for any damage to the brand's reputation. However, public outcry over intrusive advertising features persisted, with various cases of elderly users trapped by splash screen ads when trying to make calls or take photos.

Calls for stricter regulations against such ads have grown, with over 95% of respondents in a study led by Sun Yi at Hangzhou City University wanting a permanent switch to disable pop-up ads.