Last Updated on 22/11/2021 by Riya
A week after making a debut in one of the major US IPOs and securing over $4 billion, the DiDi app has been removed by China’s app store after the Chinese government intervened. The Chinese cyberspace administration recently identify that the DIDI app was gathering personal data of the Chinese residents. DiDi is a cab company that provides cab services to people. It is backed by Apple, SoftBank, Tencent, and Uber.
DiDi has been on the Chinese authorities’ radar for a long time and had been ordered to change its policies to meet with Chinese data protection regulations.”The app had been deleted from the app stores, but existing users who had previously installed the app can easily use it.” A DiDi official stated in response to the restriction. Before DiDi, no well-known app has been removed from the app store in China in recent years. Solely on the play store, the app has been installed by 10 million people. DiDi has been the largest competitor of Chinese tech giants since its launch in 2012, up to 365 million customers had been taken the ride of DiDi in China till December 2020, indicating the company’s success rate in China. However, the company had also been investigated in China over user safety and operating license.It is not the first time China has taken down a homegrown tech giant; the Chinese government has already taken action against multiple homegrown companies citing antitrust and data security issues.China’s cyber regulator charged 105 apps in May over illegally collecting personal information about Chinese citizens. Furthermore, regulators charged Alibaba, an e-commerce business, for participating in unethical practices and slapped a USD 2.8 billion fine on the corporation in April.However, according to DiDi, the data has been gathered for autonomous driving technologies and traffic analysis and ensures that it will make changes to meet Chinese data protection rules.
