–
–
–
This announcement comes the day after the withdrawal of the VTC (passenger vehicle with driver) software from Didi Global from the smartphone application stores by order of the same administration. The Chinese VTC giant, listed for the last month on the New York Stock Exchange, is accused of illegally collecting the personal data of its users.
In a statement, Didi said the withdrawal could have an impact on its revenue, without giving further details. Didi users who have already downloaded the application can continue to use it.
Full Truck Alliance, a company born from the merger of Huochebang and Yunmanman, and Kanzhun, owned by Zhipin.com, also broke into Wall Street last month.
As for Didi, the Chinese industry regulator has said that the downloading of applications from these three companies should be suspended during its investigation. She added that the investigation was aimed at “guarding against data security risks” and also met a “national security” imperative.
The Chinese Cyberspace Administration did not provide further explanation.
Full Truck Alliance, nicknamed theUber trucks, has more than 10 million registered drivers and more than five million truck owners on its platform.
Zhipin.com, China’s leading online recruiting site, had 24.9 million monthly active users in the first quarter.
The Chinese electronic commerce group Alibaba, under pressure from the authorities, recently gave up on listing on the stock market its “fintech” subsidiary Ant Group, valued at 37 billion dollars (31.5 billion euros).
“The cancellation of Ant’s IPO and this action on Didi show that IPOs can be very risky in China,” comments Martin Chorzempa, researcher at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. According to him, these operations attract the attention of regulatory authorities.
The authorities have also recently strengthened their control over internet platforms such as Meituan for anti-competitive practices.
(Reporting Gabriel Crossley, Yingzhi Yang and Yilei Sun; with Tony Munroe, Yilei Sun in Beijing and Scott Murdoch in Hong Kong, Aakriti Bhalla in Bangalore and Sam Nussey in Tokyo; French version Claude Chendjou, edited by Bertrand Boucey)
–
