Hong Kong
CNN
—
Ride-hailing giant Didi has received approval to resume new user registrations in China, it said on Monday, providing further evidence of Beijing’s regulatory crackdown on the guys. tech giant may be coming to an end.
The move is the latest sign that regulators are loosen the reins about the country’s struggling tech companies in an effort to spur economic growth.
“For more than a year, our company cooperated with the government’s cybersecurity review, took the security issues discovered in the review seriously and made a comprehensive correction,” Didi said. said in a statement posted on his Weibo account.
With approval from the Cybersecurity Review Office, Didi will be able to continue adding new users “immediately,” it added.
Didi is a poster child for Beijing’s years-long crackdown on its technology companies. Just days after a $4.4 billion IPO on Wall Street in June 2021, regulators Didi is banned from app stores in Mainland China and conduct an investigation into the handling of customer data.
They accused Didi of violating privacy laws and posing a cybersecurity risk. Their actions are also seen by many as punishment for the company’s decision to go public abroad instead of in China.
The regulatory actions wiped tens of billions of dollars off Didi’s market capitalization and affected its domestic business. Under pressure from Beijing, Didi announced in late 2021 that it would begin the process of delisting from the New York Stock Exchange and redirecting to Hong Kong.
Last July, China’s cyber regulator fined Didi more than 8 billion yuan ($1.2 billion) for violating cybersecurity and data laws.
The lifting of the ban on new users comes after Beijing signaled a softening in its stance on the country’s tech industry. Earlier this month, a top official speak The government’s crackdown on the fintech practices of more than a dozen internet companies has “basically” ended.
That comment came on the same day as Chinese billionaire Jack Ma give up control of Ant Group after the fintech giant’s shareholders agreed to restructure the business.
China’s crackdown on the country’s biggest tech companies kicks off in 2020 with new fintech regulations, prompting Ma’s Ant Group to suspends $37 billion IPO few days before launch. Regulators then targeted several other tech giants, including Tencent, Meituan and Didi.
But the Chinese economy faltering because of the country’s strict Covid restrictions, which ended in early December, and the historic real estate downturn. Policymakers have committed go all out this year to save the economy, betting on the private sector to spur growth and boost domestic demand.
