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China is faced with an urgent need to regulate mobile applications amid a deluge of privacy concerns, especially after the recent news that some food delivery platforms had been found to monitor users through the microphones of mobile devices.

The country implemented the internet security law in 2017 to safeguard public interests, but privacy invasion is still on the rise due to the surging popularity of mobile apps.

According to a survey conducted by the China Consumers Association last year, 85.2 percent of respondents said their personal data had been leaked, and 67.2 percent said mobile applications had access to unnecessary information.

The survey also showed that except for location and contacts, mobile applications often also ask for access to users’ call logs, messages, camera and microphone.

Huang Xiaolin, head of the data and privacy center of Chinese internet giant Tencent, attributed the frequent privacy invasion of mobile applications to the fact that the operators of these applications can get huge commercial benefits at very low legal risk.

Besides, it is hard to put relevant government policies into practice as it takes time and capital, said Wang Yuwei, a law firm partner in Shanghai.

China issued a security certification scheme for mobile applications to enhance users’ information security on March 15, to regulate the actions of mobile apps in their collection and use of personal information.

Huang is quite optimistic about the scheme, explaining that it will serve as positive guidance for the entire industry and the protection of personal information. It will also attract more attention from enterprises in this regard, Huang added.

He pointed out that it depends on whether the enterprises are willing to put time and money into user privacy. However, for major applications that take the bulk of the market share, self-correction can enhance their compliance, and will therefore give more security to users.