Chinese transport operator: Beijing forbids downloading the Didi app

Beijing authorities have targeted the travel agent Didi – the app may initially no longer be offered. The Uber competitor raised $ 4.4 billion on the New York Stock Exchange.

The Chinese driver service broker Didi Chuxing was targeted by the Chinese cyberspace supervisory authority shortly after its IPO in New York. The authority ordered the deletion of the Didi app from Chinese app stores. The reason given was that Didi had illegally collected personal user data.

Didi announced that it had already stopped registering new users on July 3rd and is now working on correcting its app. Users who have already installed the app can continue to use it normally. According to the company, they will cooperate fully.

Uber forced out of the Chinese market

The company ousted US rival Uber from the Chinese market a few years ago and now has around 500 million active users in the People’s Republic.

Didi went public on Wednesday, earning $ 4.4 billion. After the regulator announced an investigation into the company, Didi shares fell by more than five percent.

Beijing’s supervisory authorities have been taking action against the country’s powerful Internet companies for some time. In April, Internet giant Alibaba received a hefty fine for violating competition law. In the past year, Alibaba had to cancel the IPO of its financial subsidiary Ant Group at short notice by order of the authorities.

With information from Ruth Kirchner, ARD-Studio Beijing