A Chinese government commission has named and shamed 30 apps — a number of which are state-backed or otherwise widely used — for violating users’ data privacy, according to an official notice released Thursday.
The notice listed the Bank of China and Beijing Transport apps, both from government-affiliated entities, alongside eight others for lacking data privacy policies, while Facebook-like social app Renren and Tinder-like dating app Tantan were among the 20 called out for requiring multiple forms of unnecessary data collection in order to access their platforms. The commission, whose members are culled from the Cyberspace Administration of China and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, ordered the apps’ developers to “rectify” their software within 30 days.
Concerns over data security and privacy are on the rise in China. National authorities unveiled a draft regulation earlier this year in a bid to combat apps’ misuse of user data, and domestic media reported last week that cyber-police in the southern Guangdong province had found 1,048 apps over-collecting such data. (Image: VCG)