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Tim Culpan

Beijing Won't Brook Corporate Competition in Spying

Meitu is among those in the firing line after a report citing excessive data collection.

Seeing double? Before and after with Meitu's BeautyCam app. — Seeing double? Before and after with Meitu's BeautyCam app.
Rosalie E’Silva/Bloomberg

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November 30, 2018, 5:56 AM UTC

A 23 percent plunge in Meitu Inc.’s shares in just a day and a half serves as a stark warning to Chinese tech companies: Don’t compete with Beijing.

China’s Consumer Association on Wednesday issued a statement saying that 91 percent of the apps it tested were suspected of collecting too much data. Meitu’s photo-editing app, as well as products from NetEase Inc. and China Mobile Ltd., are among those in the firing line.