China's Big Tech Crackdown: Leading Tech Stocks Tumble As CCP Passes New Data Privacy Law Restricting Collection And Use Of Personal Data

China’s legislature has officially passed the Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL), the country's new data-privacy law that places legal restrictions on how personal data can be collected, used and managed, Xinhua reported. The law will come in to effect from November .

Lawmakers approved the law at the closing meeting of a regular legislative session of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.

The law stipulates that individual consent should be obtained when processing sensitive personal information such as biometrics, medical and health, financial accounts and whereabouts.

The law also provide powers to regulators to suspend or terminate app services that are deemed to illegally process personal data

The law is set to make it significantly harder and more expensive for tech firms in China to access and use consumer information.

Before this legislation, China had no legal framework specifically dealing with the collection and use of such data. Regulators used obscure legal provisions scattered across existing laws to handle cases related to data privacy.

The PIPL follows China’s regulatory regulatory crackdown on the country’s leading technology companies intensifies. With the PIPL, alongside the country’s Cybersecurity Law and Data Security Law, China is now working on a complete data governance framework.

The new data privacy law comes close on the heels of Chinese government crackdown on many Chinese tech firms, including ride-hailing company Didi, have been accused of mishandling user data in recent months. Shortly after Didi went public in the United States, Chinese regulators accused it of "illegally collecting and using personal information."

Though the full text of the law has not been made available, leading Chinese tech stocks tumbled. JD.com ,Xiaomi and Alibaba (BABA) all fell 2% or more in Hong Kong stock exchange. Health information affiliates of JD, Alibaba and Ping An Insurance (PIAIF) were among the worst performers, all plunging 13% or more.

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