China names and shames tech giants for app privacy violations

Beijing: Chinese tech giants Tencent and Xiaomi have been reprimanded by Beijing for designing apps that infringe on users’ privacy, even as the Communist regime amasses its own collection of personal data. China, which exercises close surveillance of online activity, has recently tightened its scrutiny of companies that gather data from consumers.

Xiaomi Finance and Tencent’s instant messaging service QQ were among dozens of problematic apps named and shamed by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on Thursday.

QQ forces users to allow the app to track their usage habits so it can show targeted ads, the ministry said in a statement.

If users do not give up their phone permissions, they cannot access the app at all, it added — warning of “punishment” if the privacy issues are not fixed by December 31.