Chinese authorities are continuing their scrutiny of mobile apps, calling out privacy flaws in an array of popular apps and removing several products used by pop star fans, mostly teenagers, who want to connect with their idols. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) on Wednesday (Aug 18) named 43 smartphone applications that were found to illegally transfer user.
Reuters
An obscure bureaucratic office in Beijing has emerged as one of the most feared government institutions for China s Big Tech as Beijing clamps down on what it sees as cybersecurity risks in the internet sector.
The Cyber Security Review Office was created last year as a joint task force by 12 Chinese ministries, including the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of National Security, to look into cybersecurity risks. The state has a cybersecurity review requirement, and this office was created to get the job done, one Beijing-based regulatory source who has direct knowledge of the matter said.
The office, under the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), had been out of public view for a year until last week when it dropped the bombshell that it was putting ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing under review over possible data security and national security risks.