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The probe illustrates how the regulators are broadening the scope of cybersecurity reviews, which had focused on technology supply-chain risks in the past, to more broadly defined data-security risks, such as cross-border transfers of “important data and a large amount of personal data,” Ms. Luo said.
Didi, the most popular ride-hailing app in China, with 377 million annual active users, amasses data including consumers’ personal information, street mapping, and real-time movements of vehicles and people. This has put the company’s data collection and handling practices on the radar of regulators, as such data is considered sensitive by Chinese authorities, lawyers and analysts said.
On Friday morning, dozens of officials arrived at Didi’s Beijing headquarters and spoke with executives, according to an employee there. While the on-site visit by the officials came as no surprise to many employees, the mood at the company was tense, and employees on-site were ordered to stay silent and banned from posting the development on social media, the person said.
The Wall Street Journal reported earlier that Didi pushed ahead with its IPO despite being urged by China’s internet regulator to submit itself to a cybersecurity review.
Didi’s shares are trading around 12% below their IPO price.
