FILE PHOTO: A navigation map on the app of Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi is seen on a mobile phone in front of the app logo displayed in this illustration picture taken July 1, 2021. REUTERS/Florence Lo/Illustration
July 3, 2021
BEIJING (Reuters) -China’s ride hailing giant Didi Global Inc stores all China user and roads data at servers in the country and it is “absolutely not possible” that the company passed data to the United States, a senior company executive said on Saturday.
Didi Vice President Li Min also said the company would sue any social media users who said Didi transferred data during its recent initial public offering (IPO) process after claims were made on China’s Twitter-like Weibo platform.
China’s cyberspace agency announced on Friday it had launched an investigation into Didi to protect national security and the public interest, just two days after the company began trading on the New York Stock Exchange. News of the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) probe knocked 5% off Beijing-based Didi’s shares on Friday.
“Like many overseas-listed Chinese companies, Didi stores all domestic user data at servers in China, it is absolutely not possible to pass data to the United States,” Li said in a post on Weibo.
The cyberspace agency did not provide details about its investigation on Friday, but said it would prevent security-related risks, citing China’s national security law and cybersecurity law.
Didi said on Friday it planned to conduct a comprehensive examination of cybersecurity risks and would cooperate fully with the relevant government authority. It also said apart from the suspension of new user registrations in China, it was operating normally.
(Reporting by Tony Munroe and Yilei Sun in Beijing and Scott Murdoch in Hong Kong; editing by Jane Wardell)
