Major New Rules Take Effect on September 30: The Chaos of "Hidden Loans" on Payment Pages Reaches Its End

Scanning a code to make a payment, only to have a loan advertisement pop up saying "borrow up to 200,000 yuan"; a close button so small it is nearly impossible to tap, with a fake close button next to it, so that one slip of the hand lands you on a loan application page... In various high-frequency everyday scenarios, the marketing reach of financial products has penetrated deep into users' payment behavior. However, some non-compliant marketing practices are continuously infringing on consumers' right to be informed and their right to make independent choices. This chaos is about to change. In April 2026, the People's Bank of China, together with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the State Administration for Market Regulation and six other departments, jointly issued the Administrative Measures for Online Marketing of Financial Products, which will officially take effect on September 30. The reporter learned that on the platform side, a leading social platform has carried out a platform-wide screening of financial advertisements, focusing on four types of problems: disguised financial marketing, incomplete disclosure, non-compliant wording, and marketing without qualifications. So far, more than a thousand related advertisements have been screened, and multiple accounts without financial qualifications have been banned.