China imposes $1.2B fine on ride-hailing giant Didi

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) – In one of the major steps taken regarding consumer data collection and processing, China on Thursday imposed a whopping fine of 8.026 billion Chinese yuan ($1.2 billion) on a ride-hailing giant.

A probe into the Didi vehicle-hiring company by the Cyberspace Administration of China, which regulates internet in the country, found that “Didi was involved in data processing activities that seriously affected national security, and other violations of laws and regulations,” local daily Global Times reported.

It said the ride-hailing giant was “refusing to comply with the explicit requirements of regulators” and there was “malicious evasion of supervision.”

The top two executives of the Beijing-based company were also fined.

The Chinese internet regulator found Didi “guilty of 16 violations of relevant laws of data security and personal information protection, including excessive collection of facial info of users.”

Didi is a Chinese vehicle for hire company and boasts of over 550 million users and tens of millions of drivers.