Chinese authorities announced on Friday that 105 apps improperly used or collected users’ personal data, including Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, Kuaishou, Baidu, Microsoft Bing and LinkedIn.
App operators are required to complete rectification within 15 working days for the problems found in the recent test conducted by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC). Those who fail to complete the rectification within the time limit will be dealt with according to law.
This is the third batch of apps announced this month for illicit collection or use of personal data. Another 117 apps included safety management apps, online loan apps, map and navigation apps, input apps and instant messaging apps.
Analysts said that this year will be crucial to the future supervision of privacy protection.
“It is recommended that practitioners collect customer information in accordance with the laws and regulations, with written consent of customers, and in accordance with the principle of necessity. Currently, regulators are focused on how the data will be used after it is collected and the way data is collected,” an analyst surnamed Wang at Kandong Research Institute, told the Global Times on Friday.
On April 26, the CAC, together with other ministries, published a draft version of personal data protection regulation on mobile apps, and asked for public opinion until May 26.
Earlier in March, the CAC, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, and the State Administration for Market Regulation, jointly issued a regulation on the scope of necessary personal information for common types of mobile internet application, in a bid to standardize the collection of personal information by apps.
The regulation specified the range of necessary personal information for 39 common types of mobile apps, including map navigation, online car-hailing, instant messaging and online shopping, and required operators to not deny users access to basic functions of apps just because users do not agree to provide non-necessary personal information.
Photo: VCG
