DiDi, the Chinese transport services giant, has faced strong pressure from Chinese regulators and government agencies since 2021 when it wanted to expand its presence in that country.
The company received a series of warnings and fines from local authorities, who raised concerns about the company’s operations.
The Chinese government said it was concerned that DiDi’s presence in the market was creating unfair competition while exposing user data.
Xi Jinping’s government has also criticized DiDi’s business practices, citing its aggressive expansion into different cities and its use of subsidies to attract customers.
Authorities accused it of creating an “unequal playing field” for other companies in the industry and warned it was violating Chinese antitrust laws.
While investigating, China banned further downloads of the app and suspended much of its activities.
The truth is that DiDi’s IPO in New York (for 4.4 billion dollars) had a lot to do with it, something that Beijing did not like. A year after its IPO, the company had to backtrack and is now considering going public in Hong Kong.
In response to Chinese criticism, DiDi took steps to address the authorities’ concerns. For example, it strengthened its vetting processes for drivers and implemented “zero tolerance” policies for any violation of safety regulations.
Beyond the problems in China, DiDi continued to expand into new markets and, according to reports, has even been in talks to acquire Uber’s operations in Latin America.
DiDi returns to normal in China
In this scenario, the good news for DiDi is that China has decided to ease the technological repression on the platform.
As reported this Monday, January 16 Financial TimesChinese authorities have given the ride-sharing group permission to register new users.
The Xi government’s decision suggests that China has ended a regulatory investigation that began in July 2021 and involved several Chinese companies that raked in billions of dollars on Wall Street.
“For more than a year, our company has earnestly cooperated with the national security-related review and seriously handled the problems found in that review, carrying out comprehensive rectifications,” the company said in a post on its social media. this Monday.
“With the approval of the Internet Security Review Bureau, the registration of new users on ‘Didi Chuxing’ will resume immediately,” it said.
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