China imposes $1.7bn fine on DiDi app for data breach incidents

Chinese ride-hailing firm Didi Global has been fined 8 billion yuan (AU$1.7 billion) by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), the country’s cyber security regulator after a year-long investigation.

The Wall Street Journal first reported the potential amount of the fine early last week.

According to Reuters, sources close to the matter who declined to be identified explained the fine would be more than 8 billion yuan (US$1.28 billion), accounting for about 4.7 per cent of Didi's $27.3 billion total revenue last year.

By pushing ahead with its $4.4 billion New York listing in June 2021, DiDi has ruffled the Chinese regulator's feathers who had asked the company to put the float on hold.

DiDi "did not immediately respond to a request for comment", according to Reuters.

Last year, e-commerce giant Alibaba Group and delivery heavyweight Meituan were fined $2.75 billion and $527 million, respectively, in 2021. Alibaba's fine equated to about 4 per cent of its 2019 domestic sales, while Meituan's was equivalent to 3 per cent of its 2020 domestic sales.

The CAC outlined that Didi had "violated three major laws concerning cyber security, data security and personal information protection".

Former Alibaba employee Will Wei Cheng Didi, co-founded DiDi in 2012. According to Reuters, the company, backed by SoftBank Group and Uber Technologies, had "previously set aside 10 billion yuan for a potential fine".

Following Didi's penalty and overall outcome of the probe, Beijing could potentially ease a restriction that had banned the ride-hailing app from adding new users to its platform by restoring its apps on domestic app stores.