Hi, itâs Coco in Hong Kong. Didiâs $1.2 billion fine for data privacy violations has made some consumers suspicious. But first...Todayâs mus
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Hi, itâs Coco in Hong Kong. Didiâs $1.2 billion fine for data privacy violations has made some consumers suspicious. But first... Todayâs must-reads: ⢠China [sealed operations at major companies](, part of a Covid lockdown
⢠The tech stock slowdown is [far-reaching](
⢠The NFL [started a mobile streaming service]( for $5 a month Didi's big fine When Chinaâs ride-hailing giant Didi Global Inc. was hit with a $1.2 billion fine last week, the reactions were mixed. On one side, global investors cheered the news, reading it as the [conclusion]( of Beijingâs closely watched data security probe into the company. Some of its users, however, began deleting the app from their phones. Yukin Pang is one such former rider. Pang, a Shenzhen resident who used to book Didi taxis as frequently as five times a week, was shocked at the government report stating Didi illegally collected almost 12 million screenshots from usersâ photo albums. âData security matters a lot to me,â Pang said. She uninstalled the app. Itâs a common misconception that Chinese citizensâwho toil under arguably the worldâs most comprehensive surveillance machineâare happy to give up personal privacy for the sake of convenience. Protests in the country have forced apps to issue apologies and change their practices, and helped spur the creation of the Personal Information Protection Law, which [seeks to curb tech giantsâ power]( to hoover up large quantities of sensitive user data. In its [statement]( last week, Chinaâs cybersecurity watchdog said Didi illegally analyzed usersâ travel history without their consent, collected copy-and-paste content from phones and gathered troves of sensitive information such as facial recognition data, home addresses and family relationships. CACâs findings spooked Chinese riders; one question about the security risks posed by Didiâs facial data collection attracted more than a million views on the countryâs question-and-answer site Zhihu. The public skepticism is adding to an already very bad year run for the company. Didiâs massive fine, coupled with the regulatorsâ report, is the culmination of a year-long investigation into the company that has cost it a [jaw-dropping $60 billion](. Beijingâs concern over Didiâs data privacy boiled over after the company listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2021, and was was driven by concerns over the [power of big data]( and private corporations. Quickly, Didi became a poster child for Chinaâs tech crackdown. Did is now a shell of its former self. Since its US delisting, Didi trades over the counter on the New York pink-sheets market: home to penny stocks and other riskier businesses. Sales dropped 13% to 40.8 billion yuan for the three months ended December, according to the companyâs latest financial filing. And in addition to the more-than-billion-dollar fine leveled by the government on Thursday, regulators ordered Didiâs co-founders [Cheng Wei](bbg://people/profile/19056272) and [Jean Liu](bbg://people/profile/17896581) to pay 1 million yuan apiece. It remains unknown exactly when Chinaâs government will allow Didi to resume signing up new users. As Didi has struggled, rivals such as food delivery conglomerate [Meituan](bbg://securities/3690%20HK%20Equity) and tech upstart [T3 Mobility]( have ramped up efforts to lure away its users. [Tencent Holdings Ltd.](bbg://securities/700%20HK%20Equity)âDidiâs third-largest institutional shareholder after [SoftBank Group Corp.](bbg://securities/9984%20JP%20Equity) and Uberâhas also quietly launched an aggregated ride-hailing service through its messaging app WeChat, joining a growing list of companies seeking to challenge the status quo in Chinaâs on-demand transportation market. Itâs unclear how many people in China have deleted Didiâs apps or reconsidered their reliance on them. Jack Meng, a frequent Didi customer in Beijing, shrugged off the question about Didiâs misconduct in personal information protection. âPretty much every Chinese company is guilty on that front,â Meng told me, adding that he has no intention of stopping using Didiâs services. For her part, Pang acknowledges that privacy issues are a universal problem in China, but said she still wants to make a gesture. And it helps that Didiâs competitors arenât far behind. Even before deleting the Didi app last week, Pang said she had increasingly switched to Meituanâs platform. Now, she solely counts on tech billionaire [Wang Xing](bbg://people/profile/19081357)âs car-hailing business to help avoid the cityâs overcrowded public transportation. âI donât think Iâll ever regret deleting Didi,â she says. â[Coco Liu](mailto:yliu1640@bloomberg.net)
The big story Buggy software cost the VW CEO his job. Tesla taught automakers, including VWâs Herbert Diess, that over-the-air updates were as important as speed, but [he struggled to execute](. What else you need to know Apple will put the iPhone on sale in China, a [rare event]( for a company that typically eschews retail convention. Meta is weighing an acquisition of AdHawk, which makes [camera-free eye-tracking technology]( that could be used in smart glasses. Facebook will also begin offering [revenue sharing on videos](. The Canadian telecom giant Rogers said it âfailed to deliverâ after a network collapse this month [shut down wireless and internet services]( for 12 million people for almost 24 hours. The startup Aptos Labs rose from the wreckage of Metaâs failed crypto ambitions. It [raised $150 million in new funding](. At least 14 financial firms downgraded expectations for Snapâs stock since late Thursday after the parent of Snapchat [posted dismal quarterly results](. Follow Us More from Bloomberg Dig gadgets or video games? [Sign up for Power On]( to get Apple scoops, consumer tech news and more in your inbox on Sundays. [Sign up for Game On]( to go deep inside the video game business, delivered on Fridays. Why not try both? Like getting this newsletter? [Subscribe to Bloomberg.com]( for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and subscriber-only insights.âââââââ You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Fully Charged newsletter. If a friend forwarded you this message, [sign up here]( to get it in your inbox.
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