New blow for tech firms

Tough stance: A driver opening the Didi Chuxing ride-hailing app on his smartphone in Beijing. The country has launched a withering public assault on some of its biggest tech names. — AFP

BEIJING: China proposed new rules that would require nearly all companies seeking to list in foreign countries to undergo a cybersecurity review, a move that would significantly tighten oversight over its internet giants.

Companies holding data on more than one million users must now apply for cybersecurity approval when seeking listings in other nations because of the risk that such data and personal information could be “affected, controlled, and maliciously exploited by foreign governments, ” the Cyberspace Administration of China said in a statement on Saturday.