Xpeng becomes China’s first smart EV maker to be fined for data privacy violation
- Regulators penalise Xpeng Motors 100,000 yuan (US$15,710) for collecting consumer data without consent at seven showrooms in Shanghai
- Xpeng apologises to customers and deletes more than 430,000 photos to comply with the data privacy rules
Chinese authorities are getting tough on data privacy violations, penalising a leading smart electric car maker for the first time for such misconduct.
They found an Xpeng subsidiary had installed 22 facial-recognition cameras in seven showrooms between January and June, collecting customers’ facial data without proper authorisation, according to a statement by the market watchdog on Tianyancha, a business-data inquiry platform.
Xpeng said in a statement that it had apologised to customers and deleted more than 430,000 photos to comply with the data privacy rules. It added the issue arose as the subsidiary was not fully aware of the relevant legal terms, which resulted in the improper use of software provided by a third-party vendor.
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“Xpeng did not leak or use personal information [and was not] in violation of the law,” the company said, adding that only data unrelated to personal information, such as foot traffic in the showrooms, was used for business surveys.
