Didi Chuxing, China’s ride-sharing app equivalent to Uber in the U.S., faces a major crackdown from the Chinese government nearly two weeks after its IPO debut in the U.S. on June 30. Upon Didi’s IPO debut, China’s Cybersecurity Administration opened up a probe in order to investigate Didi, citing “risks related to national data security.”
One of the key reasons why there is a large sentiment of concern from Chinese officials over Didi and China’s crackdown on its data security is because Chinese regulators are worried about a leverage of large data being used as well as personal data being owned by a tech giant rather than the Chinese government itself. According to an op-ed by the Chinese state-owned Global Times, “no internet giant is allowed to become a super data base that has more personal data about the Chinese people than the country does, not to mention using the data at its own will.” This means that because of Didi’s emergence in the U.S. market, China wants to monitor much closely its information security in order to protect both data security as well as national security.
Similarities with the U.S. and TikTok
The issues that China faces with Didi over data security can be related to the U.S. and its concerns over data security with the social media platform TikTok. On September 20, 2020, the U.S. Commerce of Department issued an order that prohibited app stores from allowing users to download TikTok and WeChat, both of which happened to be two popular Chinese-owned apps. This meant that Google’s Play Store as well as Apple’s App Store would prohibit people from downloading TikTok and WeChat as well as remove updates to the apps indefinitely. These concerns were made by the Trump administration then that it wanted to prevent the Chinese government from accessing sensitive data by Americans who were using the apps and put personal data in their accounts.
Why This is Significant
China’s crackdown on big tech and data security as the U.S. ban on TikTok and WeChat means more than just the Chinese and U.S. struggles over data as well as encompassing the long struggles between China and the U.S.; it means that there is a strong emphasis on protecting and securing data that is shared through social media platforms. In the long run, protecting data security will have severe consequences on companies as they try to find a way to expand and develop their products despite facing strongholds of security by their governing countries.
Sources
- Spangler, Todd. “Trump Administration Bans TikTok, WeChat App Downloads in U.S. as of Sept. 20.” Variety, Variety, 18 Sept. 2020, variety.com/2020/digital/news/tiktok-wechat-app-ban-us-trump-1234774636/.
- Times, Global. “Why Didi’s Removal from App Win Public Support: Global Times Editorial.” Global Times, 5 July 2021, www.globaltimes.cn/page/202107/1227859.shtml.