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Tencent to set up privacy oversight committee, a requirement of China’s personal information law starting next month

  • Tencent is China’s first Big Tech company to announce plans for an independent privacy committee, a requirement of the Personal Information Protection Law
  • The law’s requirements are vague, but legal experts question whether a company’s own committee is sufficiently independent

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Tencent headquarters in Shenzhen pictured on October 12. The social media giant has become the first Big Tech firm in China to announce recruitment for a committee to oversee privacy practices, a requirement of the country’s new personal information law that goes into effect next month. Photo: Bloomberg
Xinmei Shen
Tencent Holdings announced a new privacy oversight committee tasked with assessing the company’s user data protections, making it the first Big Tech firm in China to set up such a body that will be required by law next month as questions remain about such a committee’s independence.
The social media and gaming giant is recruiting 15 members for the committee, the company said in a statement posted on its WeChat app last Friday. It will consist of legal and technical experts, lawyers, media professionals and “other members of the public”, to be recruited through both public listings and scouting.

The group, officially called the “personal information protection external oversight committee”, will “independently appraise” Tencent’s efforts to protect the privacy of its users and products, offering guidance and suggesting amendments to company practices as needed, according to the Shenzhen-based firm.

The announcement comes less than two weeks until China’s new Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL) goes into effect on November 1. One of the stipulations of what experts think will be one of the world’s strictest laws on personal data protection is that large tech companies establish an “independent body that consists mainly of external members”. The rule applies to companies with “a large number of users” that “provide important internet platform services”.

The law is loose on details, though. It does not say what constitutes a “large number” or explain how oversight from an “independent body” should work. This leaves room for interpretation, but legal experts question whether tech giants setting up its own committees will allow them to be sufficiently independent.

Tencent said it currently has nothing more to add on the topic beyond what is mentioned in the recruitment notice.

Mandating that independent bodies be involved in compliance oversight is not a unique concept internationally, according to Alex Roberts, a lawyer for the firm Linklaters in Shanghai. However, companies could have a difficult time finding independent experts amid a race to comply with new requirements and given their wide range of investments across industries and numerous start-ups, he said.

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