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China rebukes internet companies for weak user data protection in their apps

  • Privacy infringements and information breaches have become hot-button issues in mainland China, as the country continues to digitise its economy
  • Last year, the China Cybersecurity Centre penalised 100 apps, across a range of industries from e-commerce to banking, for data protection issues

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The China Consumers Association last year warned that a large number of smartphone apps in the country were collecting an excessive amount of personal data, including user location, contact lists and mobile numbers. Photo: AP
Che Pan

Chinese regulators have reprimanded some of the country’s biggest technology companies for weak protection of user data, about a year after the government cracked down on a large batch of apps for breach of personal information.

The rebuke was made by Lu Chuncong, deputy director of the Information and Communications Administration under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), at a meeting on Friday in Beijing, where he accused major app operators of flouting government orders to tighten consumer data privacy.

That comes after the China Cybersecurity Centre penalised 100 apps, across a range of industries from e-commerce to banking, for incorrect collection of personal data, lack of privacy agreements and ambiguous rules in November of last year.

At the meeting, Lu said an official review of popular apps found many still lacked tight personal data protection, according to a report by Chinese media Paper.cn.

Those include 40 apps from Alibaba Group Holding, 30 each from TikTok operator ByteDance and Tencent Holdings, 20 from Baidu, and 10 each from Xiaomi Corp and NetEase, which were found to have weak personal data protection. Alibaba is the parent company of the South China Morning Post.

The MIIT confirmed on Friday the meeting with app operators, but declined to provide details.

Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu and ByteDance did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

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