As part of the country’s cybersecurity tightening, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) has fined DiDi Global Inc $1.2 billion, ending a probe that saw the ride-hailing leader being delisted from the New York Stock Exchange since its IPO in June last year.
China's cybersecurity regulator maintains that Didi had illegally collected user information over seven years starting from June 2015. Didi was also accused of data processing practices that brought "serious security risks to the security of the country's key information infrastructure and data security."
Regulatory scrutiny was instrumental in the 77% decline in DiDi's market value debut IPO.
DiDi had gotten into a rankle with CAC when it proceeded with its US stock listing despite the latter asking for a cybersecurity review of its data practices to be conducted.
The investigation into DiDi has been considered one of the highest-profile cases in Beijing's clampdown on China's tech sector.
DiDi dominates the ridesharing industry in China. Apart from mainland China, DiDi has operations in South Africa, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Australia, Brazil, Colombia and Taiwan. Markets and Markets research has estimated the Chinese ridesharing market to grow at a CAGR of 16.6% through 2026. China has over a billion Internet users, the highest number of users in the world.
In 2021, China’s antitrust regulator fined e-commerce giant Alibaba Group and delivery major Meituan $2.75 billion and $527 million respectively.