Didi makes privacy fixes to ousted apps in run-up to restoring them - SCMP

(Reuters) - Chinese ride-hailing firm Didi Global is making final updates to address cybersecurity concerns on its apps that were ousted from domestic app stores last year, the South China Morning Post reported on Tuesday, citing two sources familiar with the matter.

The fixes focus on data compliance, especially to observe multiple new rules on privacy protection and app user consent, the report https://bit.ly/3xHzxgC said, adding the apps could soon be restored.

Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal reported Chinese regulators were concluding probes into Didi and two other firms and were preparing to allow their apps back on domestic app stores, in a sign that pressure on China's internet sector was easing.

Didi did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Didi has struggled to bring its business back to normal after angering Chinese regulators by pushing ahead with its $4.4 billion New York listing in June last year despite being asked to put it on hold.

Days after Didi went public, China's powerful internet watchdog, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), launched a cybersecurity probe into the company's data practices and ordered app stores to remove 25 mobile apps operated by Didi.

The firm delisted its shares from the New York Stock Exchange on Friday, and moved to the over-the-counter market. The stock closed at $2.81, a fraction of the company's initial public offering price of $14.

(Reporting by Eva Mathews in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)