Ride-hailing Giant Didi Hit With 8 Bn Yuan Fine

China's cybersecurity regulator said on Thursday it has fined Didi Global 8.026 billion yuan, after a year-long probe found that the ride hailing giant had violated laws, including ones pertaining to data security.

Didi had illegally collected several pieces of user information over a seven-year period starting from June 2015, and also carried out data processing activities that seriously affected national security, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) said in statements.

The company's founder and Chief Executive Cheng Wei and President Jean Liu were also fined 1 million yuan each, the CAC said.

"Didi's violations of laws and regulations are serious, and should be severely punished," it said.

The fine amounts to more than four percent of Didi’s total revenue last year.

"We sincerely accept this decision [and will] resolutely obey it," Didi said in a statement on social media.

"We sincerely thank the competent authorities for their inspection and guidance... We will take this as a warning... [and] further strengthen the construction of network security and data security." (Agencies)