Didi is one of the country’s biggest ride-hailing services has been ordered off app stores over “serious violations” related to customer privacy.
China has ordered app stores to remove ride-hailing app DiDi after finding that it illegally collected users’ personal information. China’s cyberspace administration said that DiDi was ordered to make changes to comply with the Chinese data protection rules.
A statement said Didi was told to “rectify problems.” It did not give further details but said the company was barred from accepting new customers until the probe was completed.
Earlier this week, Didi pulled off one of the biggest initial public offerings (IPO) of the past decade, raising $4.4 billion (€4.6 billion) from investors in its New York stock listing.
On Friday, CAC announced that it was starting a cybersecurity review of the company, prompting Didi shares to fall 5.3%. The timing of CAC’s announcements followed the Communist Party’s 100th-anniversary celebrations in Beijing.
This comes just days after DiDi pulled off one of the biggest IPOs of a Chinese company on the US stock exchange. Didi said it would “strictly comply,” without elaborating.
Customers who downloaded the Didi app before the ban can keep using it normally, the company said in a statement on its social media account.
Didi was founded in 2012 as a taxi-hailing app and has expanded to include ride-hailing services with including private cars and buses. The Chinese firm says it’s also investing in artificial intelligence and electric cars.
