China’s leading apps, including WeChat and Taobao, test proposed national cyber ID system

More than 50 apps recently started accepting virtual IDs created under this proposed authentication system for user account registration and login

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Legal experts have expressed concerns over the proposed regulation’s implications on mainland app users’ privacy and government oversight. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 5:00pm, 1 Aug 2024

More than 50 widely used apps in mainland China – including platforms operated by Tencent Holdings, Alibaba Group Holding and ByteDance – are taking part in beta tests for the country’s proposed cyber identity authentication system.

The Ministry of Public Security and the Cyberspace Administration of China last month published the draft regulation for “National Cyber ID Authentication”, as more than 50 apps recently started accepting virtual IDs created under this system for user account registration and login. The regulators are soliciting public feedback until August 25.

Cyber ID authentication aims to “reduce the overcollection and retention of citizens’ personal information by internet platforms under the pretext of implementing real-name registration”, according to the draft regulation.

Chinese internet users can apply for a virtual ID, according to the regulation, “on a voluntary basis” to verify their identities online without disclosing sensitive personal information, such as national ID numbers, to the platforms.

Chinese internet users can apply for virtual identification on a voluntary basis under the proposed National Cyber ID Authentication regulation. Photo: AFP

Application for a virtual ID involves using an app covered under this proposed regulation to read a person’s physical ID card that supports near-field communication, pass a facial-recognition scan, link a mainland China-registered phone number and then set an eight-digit password.

Apart from ID cards, virtual ID applicants can also use the following: a China passport; mainland travel permit issued to Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan residents; and a foreign permanent resident ID for non-Chinese nationals living in the country.