New Delhi, Dec 15 : Chinese electric vehicle (EV) firm XPeng Motors on Tuesday apologised for the illegal collection of 430,000 facial images of visitors to its stores over a six-month period, after the company was fined by market regulators for the illegal behaviour and prompted harsh criticisms on Chinese social media, Global Times reported.
In a statement sent to the Global Times, the company said that all data involved had been deleted without leaks or the illegal use of personal information.
The statement came after its Shanghai-based company was fined 100,000 yuan ($15,716.6) by local market regulators for illegal collection of over 430,000 photos of consumers’ faces without their consent from January to June this year.
The issue topped search trends on China’s social media Sino Weibo on Tuesday.Many netizens expressed anger about the company’s illegal performance, urging authorities to intensify crackdowns on companies that illegally collect private information, the report said.
According to a notice for the penalty, the company purchased 22 cameras with facial recognition functions and installed them in its stores, so as to count the number of people entering the stores and analyze the proportion of people by gender and age.The firm did not inform consumers of the data collection and its use, nor did it ask for their permission, which violated the Consumer Rights Protection Law, analysts said.Xpeng is not the first company to be punished for illegally collecting customers’ facial information in China.On March 15, the World Consumer Rights Day, China Media Group (CMG) reported that more than 20 stores, including Kohler and BMW 4S, had installed cameras with facial recognition functions to collect facial data without consumers’ consent.”Facial data is highly sensitive personal information.Once leaked, it will cause great harm to personal and property security,” Zhao Zhanling, a legal counsel at the Beijing-based Internet Society of China, told the Global Times on Tuesday.san/skp/
China fines EV firm for illegal collection of facial images of visitors
A notice of the sanction stated that the company bought 22 facial recognition cameras and placed them in its shops to count people and to analyze their gender and age. Analysts stated that the firm didn’t inform the consumers about the collection or use of their data nor asked for permission.This violated the Consumer Rights Protection Law.
Xpeng isn’t the only company that has been punished in China for illegally collecting facial data from customers.China Media Group (CMG), which is celebrating the World Consumer Rights Day on March 15th, reported that 20 retailers, including Kohler, used facial recognition software to gather facial information without their consent.
“Facial information is extremely sensitive and personal information.
It can cause serious harm to property and personal security if it is leaked,” Zhao Zhanling (legal counsel, Beijing-based Internet Society of China) told The Global Times Tuesday.
#China #penalizes #company #illegally #facial #Delhi #Delhi #New Delhi
.
