(Yicai Global) Jan. 17 -- China has given ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing the go-ahead to resume new user registrations in the country after being under cybersecurity review for more than a year.

The Cyberspace Administration approved Didi to resume signing up new users yesterday, the Beijing-based firm said on Weibo the same day. Didi will take measures to ensure the safety of its platform and big data and protect national cybersecurity, it added.

Didi was pulled from app stores in China in July 2021 after the regulator launched an investigation into the firm on suspicion that it had unlawfully collected and used user data. Didi’s services were available through WeChat and Alipay’s mini-programs during the time new user registrations were paused.

Didi went public in the New York in June 2021 and announced the start of its delisting process on Dec. 3 of the same year, after the cybersecurity investigation was underway. Its shares ended at USD2.29 on June 10, 2022, its last trading day, giving the firm a market value of USD11.1 billion at that time. The stock had tumbled 84 percent from its initial offering price.

Didi had nearly 90 percent of China’s ride-hailing market before new user signups were halted, but that fell to 80 percent last year, Dolphin Research calculated based on transport ministry data.

Editor: Martin Kadiev