According to Huawei users on Twitter, ads for the hotel reservation site Booking.com are popping up on the lock screen of some Huawei smartphones. As Android Police reports, the ads seem to appear on devices using the preinstalled landscape wallpapers. They’ve been spotted in several countries including the UK, Netherlands, Ireland, South Africa, Norway and Germany and on various models.
On Twitter, users were quick to question and criticize the ads. Given Huawei’s recent press, the company certainly doesn’t need more bad publicity.
According to Huawei, the ads are stemming from some third-party services or apps, and not from Huawei itself. For comparison, Huawei pointed to a similar issue that affected Samsung phones about a year ago. That said, it doesn’t seem to add up after all, the ads are being placed in Huawei’s Magazine cycle of wallpapers, and it seems highly coincidental that a number of Huawei phone owners would all experience the same issue on the same day, while those on other phones haven’t run into the problem.
People have reason to be upset. At the best of times, advertisements online can be intrusive, and having ads placed on the phone’s lock screen can remove some of the customization and personalization that people get with their phones.
