VTC. China fined Didi 1.2 billion euros

China’s internet regulator announced on Thursday that it would impose a fine of 8.03 billion yuan (about 1.2 billion euros) on local bike giant Didi after a lengthy investigation.chinese uber“. In its press release, the Cyberspace Administration of China justified its decision by saying “irrefutable evidencethat the company violated Chinese law, particularly regarding Internet security and personal data protection. The fine amounts to more than 4% of Didi’s 2021 annual turnover. The digital giants have been under pressure since 2020 from Chinese authorities, who are stepping up their crackdown on powerful internet companies for competition and personal data.

The regulator accuses Didi of illegally storing the personal information of more than 57 million drivers in an insufficiently secure format. The VTC company has also been convicted of analyzing passenger data, including photos on mobile phones, without their knowledge. “Despite the fact that regulators have ordered corrections (to Didi’s practices), no general and deep corrections have been made,” the Cyberspace Administration of China said.

He says the violations of the law spanned seven years, beginning in June 2015. Despite the Beijing-Washington rivalry, Didi, which dominates the car booking market in its home country, has earmarked a US IPO for June 2021. Chinese authorities immediately launched an administrative investigation against Didi regarding the collection of her personal data. The authorities then banned the download of the Didi app. People who already had it on their smartphone could still continue using it. Under pressure from Beijing, Didi was also forced to announce its hasty exit from the New York Stock Exchange in December 2021 after just five months of listing.