China fines Didi Global US$1.2bil for violating data security laws

a55555彩票网（www.a55555.net）是澳洲幸运5彩票官方网站，开放澳洲幸运5彩票会员开户、澳洲幸运5彩票代理开户、澳洲幸运5彩票线上投注、澳洲幸运5实时开奖等服务的平台。

HONG KONG/BEIJING: China's cybersecurity regulator on Thursday fined Didi Global Inc $1.2 billion, concluding a probe that forced the ride-hailing leader to delist from New York within a year of its debut and made foreign investors wary about China's tech sector.

Didi ran afoul of the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) when it pressed ahead with its U.S. stock listing even though it was urged to wait while a cybersecurity review of its data practices was conducted, sources previously told Reuters.

The CAC said its investigation found Didi had illegally collected millions of pieces of user information over a seven-year period starting June 2015, and carried out data processing activities that seriously affected national security.

It fined Didi 8.026 billion yuan ($1.2 billion) and, in an unusual move, said founder and Chief Executive Cheng Wei and President Jean Liu were responsible for the violations, and imposed penalties of 1 million yuan each.

"Didi's violations of laws and regulations are serious... and should be severely punished," it said.

Didi, backed by investors including U.S. peer Uber Technologies Inc and Japan's SoftBank Group Corp, in a statement on its Weibo account said it accepted the CAC's decision and would conduct comprehensive self-examination and rectification.

The regulatory action against Didi was part of a wider and unprecedented crackdown by authorities for violation of antitrust and data security rules, among other issues, targeting some of China's best-known corporate names.

在线博彩平台（www.99cx.vip）是一个开放皇冠体育网址代理APP下载、皇冠体育网址会员APP下载、皇冠体育网址线路APP下载、皇冠体育网址登录APP下载的官方平台。在线博彩平台上最新在线博彩平台登录线路、在线博彩平台代理网址更新最快。在线博彩平台开放皇冠官方会员注册、皇冠官方代理开户等业务。

Authorities have in recent months changed their tone toward the crackdown as they seek to boost an economy hurt by COVID-19 containment measures. The shift has raised hope for companies and investors that the worst is over, though jitters remain.

Chinese technology stocks rose after the Didi announcement, with the Hang Seng Tech Index rising over 1% in afternoon trade.

"The fine should mark the end of Didi's regulatory troubles," said analyst Travis Lundy at Quiddity Advisors who publishes on research platform Smartkarma.

"If there were more, they'd have waited until those were understood and addressed to levy the fine," he said, adding the development should allow Didi to move toward listing in Hong Kong.

Didi, which delisted from New York last month, previously aimed to list in Hong Kong by June. It put such plans on hold indefinitely after failing to win approval from Chinese regulators, Reuters has reported.

APP RELAUNCH

Didi's fine would be the largest regulatory penalty imposed on a Chinese technology company since Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and Meituan were fined $2.75 billion and $527 million respectively last year by the antitrust regulator.

Alibaba's fine equated to about 4% of its 2019 domestic sales, while Meituan's was equivalent to 3% of its 2020 domestic sales. In comparison, Didi's fine would be equal to about 4.6% of the firm's $25.7 billion revenue last year.