The Cyberspace Administration of China listed thirty-three applications owned by two dozen firms ranging from Alibaba Group Holding to Tencent Holdings in a note. This businesses were given ten days to correct their illegal data collection or incur financial penalties.
Zhejiang Jianxin Technology distributed illegal sales and marketing messages through its Lianxin social-networking software, while the second party included 17 map and navigation apps offered by Alibaba’s AutoNavi, Baidu, Tencent, and home-grown satellite navigation device BeiDou.
After late 2020, China’s government has been cracking down on the country’s biggest technology firms. Not to mention that Alibaba, the world’s biggest e-commerce site and owner of this publication, was fined a whopping 18.2 billion yuan (US$2.8 billion) for antitrust violations.
Tencent and other internet firms, including ride-hailing firm Didi Chuxing, were fined for violating anti-monopoly laws.
For years, there have been crackdowns on smartphone data processing and attempts to improve mobile privacy rights. China held a second hearing this week on two proposed laws governing the country’s large data stores, including the Data Security Law and the Personal Data Protection Law (PIPL), the country’s first set of regulations to protect personal data.
