China has instructed app-store operators to remove Didi’s apps from their stores, with the latest pressure mounting between the country’s largest ride-hailing giant and local regulators. The app has disappeared from several stores in China, including Apple’s App Store, TechCrunch can confirm that. The country’s cyberspace administration, which unveiled the order on Sunday, said Didi was illegally collecting users’ personal information.
Apple, Softbank and Tencent, and Uber were counted among its investors and Ride-Hailing Giant filed for an IPO late last month, instructed to change to follow Chinese data protection regulations. The move comes after Chinese Internet surveillance earlier this week announced Didi’s investigation into “national security” concerns. Didi raised at least 4 4 billion this week after making her debut in one of the largest U.S. IPOs on the New York Stock Exchange.
In a statement, Didi said it had removed its apps from various app stores and started “fixing” them. It further said that on Saturday it stopped registering new users. For existing users, the Didi app remains effective. It is very rare to pull any app of this scale from app stores.
For the 12 months ending March, Didi has served 493 million annual active users and viewed 41 million transactions on a daily basis, recently published. The app had 156 million monthly users in Q1, Uber had more than 98 million during the period h Chinese official data showed that there were 365 million ride healing users in the country by December; Didi noted that there is a substantial market share.
Didi’s app has been removed from the Chinese App Store following Beijing’s suspension following concerns from regulators about user data collection. On Sunday, China imposed the ban through the country’s cyberspace administration, which said Didi was illegally collecting users’ personal information.
The decision to ban Didi’s app last week, citing “national security” concerns, follows the start of an investigation. The app has already disappeared from several stores in China, including Apple’s App Store and the company has been ordered to comply with the country’s data protection regulations.
