China's cyberspace watchdog fines Didi Global for illegally processing personal data

The Chinese cyberspace watchdog has fined the country's ride-hailing giant Didi Global a total of RMB$8.026bn for illegally processing 64.709 billion pieces of personal information. Cheng Wei, chairman and CEO of Didi Global, and Liu Qing, president of Didi Global, were each fined RMB$1million.

According to the public announcement released on 21 July 2022, the Cyberspace Administration of China imposed a fine of RMB$8.026 billion on Didi Global as it was accused of breaching the "Network Security Law", "Data Security Law", "Personal Information Protection Law", "Administrative Penalty Law" and other regulations.The Cyberspace Administration of China has filed a case for investigation into the suspected illegal activities of Didi Global in accordance with the law.

After investigation, the watchdog said that Didi Global has violated the "Network Security Law", "Data Security Law" and "Personal Information Protection Law" with clear facts and conclusive evidence, including 16 illegal acts such as summoning 11.96 million screenshot information from users’ mobile photo albums; excessively collect 8.323 billion pieces of user clipboard information and application list information; 107 million pieces of passenger face recognition information and 53.5092 million pieces of age group information; 1.6 million pieces of occupational information; 1.3 million pieces of family relationship information, and 153 million pieces of taxi address information for “home” and “company”.

Furthermore, the statement also said that the company has overly gathered passengers’ evaluation of chauffeur-driven services, 142,900 pieces of driver education information and 57 million pieces of driver ID number information were stored in plain text, as well as 304 million pieces of non-local business or travel information.

The cyberspace watchdog said in the statement that Didi's related violations first started in June 2015 and lasted for seven years. Since the number of illegally processed personal information by Didi Global is huge and contains facial recognition information, precise locations, ID numbers and other sensitive personal information, the watchdog has decided to exercise the relevant punishment against the act.

Previously in June, the Cyberspace Administration of China has revised rules governing mobile apps and their distributing platforms, which takes effect from 1 August 2022. According to the statement on its website, the regulations established by the authority prohibit mobile app providers and distribution platforms to use apps to conduct activities that endanger national security, disrupt social order, and infringe on the legitimate rights and interests of others. Apps with functions that could possibly influence public opinion will need to seek security inspection.

Earlier in May, Lenovo's founder Liu Chuanzhi and Didi Chuxing's president Jean Liu hid all posts on their social platforms, joining other tech moguls who reduce their presence on social media. It was reported that Weibo users had noticed their decision to hide all old posts, but both the individuals did not offer any reason for the decision. Liu has about 878,000 followers on his Weibo account, and all of his 112 posts are hidden at the moment. On the other hand, Didi's Liu, who has about 10.35 million users on Weibo, also hid all posts.

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