Dianping.com apologizes for data sharing gaffe

Consumer review service Dianping.com, China's equivalent of Yelp, apologized on Monday following accusations that it shared user information without permission.

Many users who accessed Dianping via third party applications such as WeChat realized that they were able to view the hotels and restaurants people on their contact list had visited. Although this feature has been present for some time, it wasn't until recently that users' complaints surfaced online.

Liu Junhai, a professor of Renmin University of China, was quoted by Shanghai-based news service The Paper as saying that Dianping had "misled and deceived customers" by introducing such a feature.

In a statement released on Monday afternoon, the Shanghai-headquartered company said it designed the function because it simply wanted to let users share about their retail and lifestyle experiences.

"We extend our sincere apologies to the users who are bothered by this," the company said in the statement.

Dianping has since rolled out measures to rectify the situation, including creating an option for users to prevent such information from being seen by others.

Chinese customers have become increasingly concerned about their privacy being breached by Internet giants like Dianping.com, which has 250 million active users monthly. In March, Robin Li, CEO of Chinese search engine Baidu, ruffled the feathers of netizens when he said that Chinese consumers are willing to trade privacy for convenience and efficiency.

Yu Dingzhang contributed to this story.