Didi apps ousted from China app stores for privacy reasons near return after ride-hailing firm’s NYSE delisting, sources say

The company is making final updates to get its apps restored to app stores after a year-long absence, a crucial step that would enable recruitment of new users

The fixes focus on data compliance with multiple new rules on privacy protection and user consent, sources say

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The Didi Global headquarters in Beijing, pictured on June 9, 2022. Sources say the company is making final fixes that will get its app back into China app stories. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 7:00pm, 21 Jun 2022

Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing, which was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) this month to address Beijing’s cybersecurity concerns, is rushing to make final updates of its apps to get them restored to app stores, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.

With the latest fixes, Didi’s apps – 26 of which were removed from domestic app stores in July 2021, days after the Cyberspace Administration of China launched a probe into the company – can “soon” be restored, said a source who declined to be named.

The resumption of new downloads of Didi’s apps, including its main ride-hailing platform Didi Chuxing and popular carpooling service Hitch, is “more essential than a relisting” for the company, because it’s the first step for Didi to restart taking in new users, the first person said.

The rectifications “focus on data compliance, especially to observe multiple new rules on privacy protection and app user consent”, a second source said.

A Didi driver follows navigation directions from Didi’s app in Beijing on July 5, 2021, around the time the company’s apps were removed from app stores in China. Photo: Reuters

Didi did not immediately respond for comment.

Restoration of Didi’s apps in China’s app stores would also be seen as a concrete sign of Beijing ending special regulatory scrutiny against the country’s biggest tech companies.

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