On July 31, 2024, the Cyberspace Administration of Shanghai (CAS) announced that it had completed a special inspection on the collection and use of personal information by 21 local apps.

Scope of the inspection

The CAS noted that the inspection, conducted between April and July 2024, was carried out to ensure compliance with the Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL) and other relevant regulations.

Findings of the inspection

According to the CAS the inspection identified over 80 issues related to the improper handling of personal data by the apps. Some of the problems included:

• incomplete privacy policies that did not specify the type, purpose, and method of data collection;
• mandatory collection of unnecessary data;
• lack of transparency on the collection of sensitive data;
• default acceptance of privacy policies;
• collecting personal information like device identifiers before obtaining user consent; and
• the use of information beyond stated purposes.

The CAS noted that all app operators had since rectified the identified problems. Finally, the CAS reminded app operators to among other things, follow data protection principles, implement clear, transparent, and user-friendly privacy policies, limit data collection to what is strictly necessary, and ensure the security of personal information.

You can read the press release, only available in Chinese, here.