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Face mask-clad passengers use their smartphones while riding the subway in Wuhan, in China's central Hubei province. Photo: AFP
TechPolicy

China calls out ByteDance, Kuaishou, and LinkedIn for illegal data collection

  • 105 apps, including some of the country’s most popular short video platforms, were put on notice by the Cyberspace Administration of China
  • The internet watchdog found the apps were illegally collecting and misusing personal data
Regulation
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China’s internet watchdog has named and shamed some of the country’s most popular mobile applications, including the Chinese version of TikTok, Kuaishou, LinkedIn and 102 other apps, for the illegal collection and use of personal data.

The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) said that after receiving complaints from users, it had found that 105 apps had violated several laws and had infringed personal information through illegal access, over-collection and excessive authorisation, according to a notice on its WeChat official account.

Short video apps including Kuaishou and ByteDance-owned TikTok were included in the list as well as Microsoft-owned LinkedIn and Bing, Tencent-owned music streaming service Kugou, and search giant Baidu’s mobile browser.

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All 105 apps have 15 working days to rectify the violation.

This is the latest batch of apps to face scrutiny after new regulations from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) came into effect on May 1. Since then the CAC has released similar notices on a regular basis that have called out security apps developed by Tencent Holdings, Baidu, and Alibaba Group Holding as well as apps in the categories of text-input, maps and instant messenger, including those developed by Baidu, Sogou, iFlyTek and Tencent.
The MIIT regulations, first announced in March, hold application providers accountable for collecting what it calls “excessive” user data unrelated to their core services, and forcing users to give uninformed consent to how their data is used.

The regulations on necessary personal information for mobile internet applications covers the basic functions and services for 39 app categories, including messaging, online shopping, payments, ride hailing, short video, live streaming and mobile games.

Beijing has been working to stamp out personal privacy breaches in the world’s largest internet market, with nearly 1 billion users. The government last year drafted the Personal Information Protection Law, which sets fines of up to 50 million yuan (US$7.7 million), or 5 per cent of a company’s annual revenue, for such offences.

The scrutiny on data privacy is part of a wider crackdown on China’s biggest tech companies, with tightened control over their business practices, including a record 18.2 billion yuan fine imposed on e-commerce giant Alibaba in early April for monopolistic behaviour.

Tencent and Alibaba were also among the country’s major internet firms fined for failing to disclose deals in violation of China’s anti-monopoly law since last year.

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