It has been verified that the main operating entities of CNKI are three companies: Tongfang Knowledge Network (Beijing) Technology Co. The company’s 14 apps, including Zhi.com, collected personal information without consent, did not disclose or explicitly state the rules of collection and use, did not provide the function of account cancellation, and did not delete users’ personal information in a timely manner after they canceled their accounts.
On September 1, China’s National Internet Information Office (NIIO), in accordance with the Cybersecurity Law, the Personal Information Protection Law, the Administrative Penalty Law and other laws and regulations, and taking into account the nature, consequences and duration of the illegal handling of personal information by CNKI, in particular the situation of cybersecurity review, made a decision to impose administrative penalties related to the cybersecurity review of CNKI in accordance with the law, and ordered it to stop illegal handling of personal information and impose a fine of RMB 50 million.
China’s National Internet Information Office will continue to insist on integrating development and security, adhering to the law in managing the network, strengthening law enforcement in the areas of network security, data security and personal information protection, creating a healthy, standardized and orderly development environment for enterprises, and effectively safeguarding national network security, data security and the legitimate rights and interests of citizens.