The Cyberspace Administration of China has imposed on the car sharing giant a fine of 8.026 billion yuan, equal to 1.16 billion euros: "Violate the laws on network security, data security and protection of personal information" 21 Jul 2022 Domenico Aliperto placeholder image
Didi Chuxing, the Chinese car-sharing giant, must pay a fine of 8.026 billion yuan (1.16 billion euros) for violations of data security laws. This was announced by the Cyberspace Administration of China. "Didi Global has violated the Network Security Act, the Data Security Act and the Personal Information Protection Act with clear facts, conclusive evidence, serious circumstances and bad nature," the statement released by Chinese media said, adding that two senior executives – Cheng Wei, President and CEO of Didi Global, and Liu Qing, president of Didi Global – were each fined one million yuan (over 144 thousand euros). Index of topics • The offenses alleged against the company • The conduct of the case The offences alleged against the company The administrative sanction against Didi was imposed "in order to prevent risks to the security of national data, maintain national security and protect public interests", reads the note issued by the Cyberspace Administration of China. The Internet watchdog claims to have carried out "investigations, investigations and collection of technical evidence, and has ordered Didi to submit relevant test materials, conduct in-depth verifications and analysis of test materials". In total, there are 16 offenses committed by Didi, which mainly concern the illicit collection of information on hundreds of millions of users, including with the use of facial recognition technology, and on their family members. Didi is also accused of carrying out "data processing activities that seriously affect national security" and other violations of laws, including "refusing to meet the clear requirements of regulators" and evading oversight. "Didi's illegal operations have posed serious risks to the security of the country's main IT infrastructure and data security," the Cyberspace Administration of China said. The conduct of the case The investigation into Didi began in July last year, shortly after the on-call car giant made its wall street debut. Beijing had ordered the removal of Didi's app – and 25 other apps from companies controlled by it – from all app stores in China and launched data security investigations based on national security concerns. The Cyberspace Administration of China had also tightened its grip on tech giants intending to list abroad, making it more difficult to approve IPOs and raise funds in the United States, with a strengthening of supervision over tech giants that possess data of at least one million users, a very low threshold in a country of over 1.4 billion inhabitants. and with more than a billion people surfing the Internet (over 1.03 billion as of December 2021, according to data released by the China Internet Network Information Center).