Personal information gathered by live-streaming and short video-sharing services will be strictly limited, according to new rules introduced by Beijing, signalling the government’s determination to clean up unauthorised data collection by internet platforms. The Cyberspace Administration of China, the country’s internet regulator, on Tuesday published the draft set of rules, which narrows the scope of user data collection by 38 common types of apps in the domestic market, such as instant messaging, online shopping, mobile payments, map navigation and online ride-hailing services. Twelve of those types of apps, which include live-streaming and short video-sharing, will be prohibited from gathering even “necessary personal information” for providing basic functions like video playback and search. The draft rules describe necessary personal information, including a user’s mobile number and location, as data that is “essential to ensuring the normal operation” of the apps. “As long as the user agrees to the collection of the necessary personal information, the apps cannot refuse the user’s installation and use,” the rules said. China’s ‘wild era’ of internet may be ending as new personal data protection law seeks to curb Big Tech’s control over user data The draft rules represent the latest effort by China to strengthen personal privacy protection in the world’s largest internet market. Privacy infringements and information breaches have become hot-button issues in China, as the country continues to digitise its economy. In November of last year, Chinese authorities requested internet companies to strengthen protection of personal data amid concerns that some had been stealing, trading or revealing personal information in the name of conducting big data research. Last month, authorities drafted the country’s new personal information protection law that aims to significantly increase penalties for companies responsible for data breaches. It proposed stiff fines of up to 50 million yuan (US$7.6 million) or 5 per cent of a company’s annual revenue. Chinese regulators last week reprimanded some of the country’s biggest technology companies for weak protection of user data, about a year after the government penalised 100 apps for breach of personal information . Lu Chuncong, deputy director of the Information and Communications Administration under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, at a meeting last week in Beijing, accused major app operators – including Alibaba Group Holding , Tencent Holdings , ByteDance , Baidu , Xiaomi Corp and NetEase – of flouting government orders to tighten consumer data privacy. Alibaba is the parent company of the South China Morning Post .