In its latest rebuke to the ride-hailing giant Didi, China ordered 25 more of the company’s apps removed from mobile stores on Friday, deepening the regulatory maelstrom that has engulfed the company since it went public on the New York Stock Exchange last week.
The country’s internet regulator said in its 10 p.m. announcement that the apps — which include Didi’s car-pooling app, its finance app and its app for corporate customers — showed problems related to the collection and use of personal data.
The latest announcement was nearly identical to one the same agency issued on Sunday, ordering a halt to downloads of Didi’s main, consumer-facing app for the same reason. That order followed a separate one two days before that told Didi to stop registering new users while officials conducted a checkup of the company’s network security practices.
None of these recent commands offered any detail about the specific data and security problems that aroused officials’ concerns. In a statement that was posted after midnight on Chinese social media, Didi said it would “sincerely accept and resolutely obey” the demands.
Beijing’s sudden moves against Didi, which has been celebrated for years in China as a homegrown innovator and industry pacesetter, have jolted the company’s new Wall Street shareholders. The clampdown has also spooked investors and start-ups in China, who are wary about what seems to be growing hostility by Chinese officials toward domestic companies that list shares on overseas exchanges.
A listing on Wall Street, such as Alibaba’s record-breaking one in 2014, was once seen in China as an ultimate validation of a company’s business achievements.
