Ride-hailing giant DiDi fined more than 8 bln yuan

BEIJING, July 21 (Xinhua) -- China's internet watchdog imposed a penalty of 8.026 billion yuan (about 1.187 billion U.S. dollars) on ride-hailing giant DiDi Global Inc., on Thursday.

The company was penalized for violating cybersecurity, data security and personal information protection laws, according to the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC).

The CAC launched a cybersecurity review against DiDi in July 2021, which found that Didi illegally processed billions of pieces of personal information, including facial recognition data, precise location information, ID card numbers and other sensitive, personal information.

The cybersecurity review also found that DiDi's data processing activities had seriously affected national security, and the company had refused to comply with regulatory requirements and had evaded supervision.

Didi's illegal operation brought serious risks to the country's critical information infrastructure security and data security, according to the CAC.