By: The New York Times
Date: July 21, 2022
In slapping China’s ride-hailing giant, Didi Global, with a record $1.2 billion fine for data breaches, Beijing made clear to the country’s internet companies that their freewheeling days were over.
The penalty imposed by China’s internet regulator on Didi, one of the country’s most valuable tech companies, was the third in a series of major moves by the government to rein in China’s high-flying internet sector. As China’s leader, Xi Jinping, has waged an expansive campaign to strengthen state control over the economy, regulators have zeroed in on internet companies like Didi, which runs services similar to Uber, that have amassed sweeping and some say excessive influence over Chinese society.