Published 18:19 IST, March 9th 2020
China: Kids give bad reviews to learning app to escape homework amid coronavirus lockdown
Chinese kids being assigned homework on the DingTalk app owned by Alibaba group downvote it and get it thrown out of the app store in an effort to escape HW.
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In the absence of schools in Wuhan due to a city-wide lockdown, children were being taught their courses online and being assigned homework by their teachers using the DingTalk app. But amid the lockdown, these children have reportedly managed to devise a way to shut down the DingTalk app.
Ingenious realization
Wuhan's children have managed to shut down the DingTalk app by downvoting it on the app store. They realized that by flooding the app store with negative reviews they could get the app thrown out of the store. As per reports, the app's pages were soon flooded with fake bad reviews which actually caused it to be thrown out of the store.
DingTalk is an online teaching and homework app that was being used to set homework for children. In the absence of school due to the Wuhan lockdown, the children of the city were being taught their courses online and being assigned homework on the app by their teachers. But the children turned out to be smarter.
Following the flood of bad reviews from the children, the app's ratings fell from 4.9 to 1.4 in just a few days. One reviewer wrote that they were being forced to do homework while they were possibly going to die from the disease (referring to coronavirus). Another wrote that they really wanted to give the app five stars but they did not feel like giving it all at once and therefore would give it five-times (One star each time).
According to reports, the DingTalk [app is owned by the Alibaba Group and the children's fake reviews had put in such a bad position that it had to go on social media to ask the children to stop their antics. Nevertheless, social media applauded the kid's genius in taking down the app.
LMAOOO Chinese kids in quarantine are genius, they're forcing their online class app out of App Store by letting negative reviews and IT'S WORKING
— 𝙛 𝙡 𝙤. (@adampughx) March 8, 2020
well done, children of Wuhan. Well done.
— jamie k (@jkbloodtreasure) March 7, 2020
Especially pleasing since Chinese kids are often portrayed as small learning machines. https://t.co/GSbtyTZ2ut
nah those chinese kids mad smart. they weren’t trying to do hw through an app under quarantine, so they got it deleted from the app store 😭😭😭
— ᴉɥɔǝunʇ ƃuᴉʞ (@_iparker_) March 8, 2020
#coronavirus Chinese teachers use an app called DingTalk to set homework during the lockdown. Kids realised if it got enough one-star reviews it would be removed from App Store. Thousands of reviews flooded in, and DingTalk’s rating fell from 4.9 to 1.4 overnight.#Legends🙌🏾🙌🏾😂😂 pic.twitter.com/zLtvjWaVWZ
— AFRICAN G.I.A.N.T (@WardenofDongbei) March 8, 2020
18:19 IST, March 9th 2020