Devices highlighted that avoid online accountability

The annual television program that aired on China Central Television on Friday to coincide with World Consumer Rights Day – the 315 Gala – cast light on the illegal practice of producing and selling assembled mobile phone mainboard machines, which can be used to simultaneously control dozens of mobile phones with different IPs.

The devices are widely used to create online advertising without accountability.

Companies that make them have reportedly been openly advertising that people can install 20 mobile phone mainboards in the same chassis, meaning they can control 20 phones.

The companies also claim in their advertising that their mainboard machines, when stacked together, can form a network matrix of thousands of mobile phones, enabling manipulation of games, post counts, and online voting.

The program's reporters conducted undercover investigations to reveal the illegal activity.

One manager of YunDou Technology Company, surnamed Yuan, said operating mainboard machines was as simple as operating phones or computers, the show said. Yuan said a single mainboard machine could be used to control 20 mobile phones, allowing for easy switching, which significantly increased operational efficiency.

The price of the products ranges from more than 3,000 yuan ($417) to more than 6,000 yuan per set, Yuan said.

One of the main things the devices are used for is to attract customers, with companies using them to create ads on short-video platforms, Yuan said.

Apart from greatly increasing promotional efficiency, the devices can modify the IP address of the video released via mainboard machines, making it difficult for online platforms and regulatory authorities to detect and locate them, Yuan said.

The program also showed the factory of YunJiXia (Shenzhen) Technology Co, another enterprise that produces mainboard machines.

A manager at the company surnamed Han said the price of second-hand mobile phone mainboards range from 100 yuan to 150 yuan and that the cost of a single new mainboard machine was more than 2,000 yuan.

Han said in addition to using the devices for advertising, people use them for online gaming and for e-commerce platforms. Some users are also involved in paid posts for public relations articles.

During the undercover investigation into the companies' practices, an e-commerce platform's promotion manager surnamed Liu, said his company used mainboard machines to evade supervision.

For e-commerce marketing, the devices can be used to send a large number of marketing links, something that would usually lead to an account being suspended. Liu said the devices essentially mean regulatory rules become ineffective.

After the program aired, officials from market supervision administration in several cities, including Shenzhen in Guangdong province, stated that they would start investigations into the companies involved.