China launches cybersecurity review into more US-listed firms following action against Didi Chuxing

The new targets of China’s cybersecurity review regulation include two truck-hailing apps and an online recruitment firm

The move comes hours after the powerful cyberspace administration agency ordered Didi Chuxing off the nation’s app stores

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Chinese truck-hailing apps Huochebang and Yunmanman, owned by Full Truck Alliance, seen on smartphones in this illustration picture taken on July 5. Photo: Reuters

Published: 10:16am, 5 Jul 2021Updated: 11:26pm, 5 Jul 2021

China’s powerful internet watchdog launched new cybersecurity reviews of three more online services on Monday, including newly-listed truck-hailing service providers and an online recruitment app, hours after an action against ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing.

The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) said it is targeting apps Yunmanman and Huochebang, dubbed China’s “Uber for trucks”, and an online recruiting platform known as Boss Zhipin, to prevent data security risks and to protect national security.

Full Truck Alliance, the result of a merger between Yunmanman and Huochebang in 2017, raised US$1.6 billion on the New York Stock Exchange last month. Beijing-based Kanzhun, the company behind Boss Zhipin, also went public in June, raising US$912 million. Didi Chuxing collected US$4.44 billion in its blockbuster offering last week.

Using wording similar to that of its Didi probe, the administrator ordered the three apps to stop registering new users. It cited the National Security Law, the Cybersecurity Law and the Measures for Cybersecurity Review as justification for the action, but did not mention any specific clauses that the three apps had supposedly violated.

Existing users of apps can still use the services. Unlike Didi, the apps are also still available in Chinese app stores. On Sunday, the CAC ordered app stores to remove Didi, but it did not explicitly connect the move to the cybersecurity review.

Boss Zhipin and Full Truck Alliance said they will actively cooperate with the review and assess their cybersecurity risks.

Full Truck Alliance is one of China’s biggest trucking companies. In 2020, about 20 per cent of China’s heavy- and medium-duty truckers fulfilled shipping orders using the company’s platforms, according to its prospectus, citing data from China Insights Consultancy. It also said 2.8 million truckers fulfilled 71.7 million orders on its platforms last year.

Boss Zhipin also looms large in its industry. It had 24.9 million monthly active users in the first three months of the year, according to the company’s prospectus. Its 85.8 million verified jobseekers and 13 million verified enterprise users include executives from big companies, small business owners and recruiting professionals, according to the document.

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