China developing tech to address personal information protection 'loopholes'

China's regulators have in recent months forged ahead with a crackdown on the country's technology giants, criticising and punishing them on areas ranging from anti-competitive behaviour to violations of consumer rights.

BEIJING (Reuters) - China will improve detection technologies to find information protection "loopholes" as more effort is being made this year to regulate the country's huge mobile app market, the information technology minister said.

Icons for ByteDance Ltd.'s Xigua Video app, top left, and the Kuaishou Technology app, top second left, on a smartphone in Hong Kong, China. (Bloomberg)

"Those apps that refuse to accept rectification must be resolutely removed," said Xiao Yaqing, minister of industry and information technology, at a briefing in Beijing on Monday.

"On the supervision side, we must also improve our technical equipment capabilities ... we must be able to detect loopholes in information protection, so that the masses can use (apps) with confidence."

China's regulators have in recent months forged ahead with a crackdown on the country's technology giants, criticising and punishing them on areas ranging from anti-competitive behaviour to violations of consumer rights.

For example, they have asked companies to suspend apps for rectifications and in December unveiled draft guidelines seeking to limit mobile apps' collection of personal data.