Trip.com Group fined $1.4 million for illegal cross-border data transfers

Journey.com Group has been fined RMB 10 million for illegally transferring private data abroad, the most recent regulatory motion in opposition to the web journey large this yr.

For the reason that starting of the yr, China’s enforcement investigations have discovered that some web corporations in sectors intently tied to individuals’s lives have continued to illegally switch private data abroad. Cybersecurity regulators have additional intensified enforcement efforts, cracking down on violations that endanger cybersecurity and information safety, infringe on private data rights, and disrupt financial and social order.

In January 2026, China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) formally launched an antitrust investigation into Journey.com Group below the Anti-Monopoly Regulation over suspected abuse of market dominance. The information triggered a pointy market response, wiping greater than HK$60 billion （about USD 7.65 billion) off the corporate’s market worth inside two buying and selling days.

In March, three Beijing authorities companies collectively summoned 12 on-line platforms, publicly criticizing Journey.com’s “computerized price-matching” mechanism for undermining resorts’ pricing autonomy.

In Could, the Our on-line world Administration of China (CAC) superior its nationwide algorithm governance marketing campaign, requiring main on-line journey platforms, together with Journey.com, to conduct self-inspections.

Then, on June 11, three authorities ministries collectively summoned seven train-ticket reserving platforms, focusing on practices reminiscent of “ticket-snatching charges,” speculative ticket buying, and the improper assortment of private data.

Two days later, on June 13, a significant information compliance penalty was introduced.

Underneath the steering of the CAC, the Shanghai Our on-line world Administration dealt with a sequence of enforcement instances involving native corporations that had failed to satisfy their information safety obligations, lacked ample safety safety measures, had inadequate compliance capabilities in back-end information processing, or carried out insufficient compliance evaluations for cross-border information transfers.

Among the many instances, Shanghai Journey.com Commerce Co., Ltd. was fined RMB 10 million (about USD 1.48 million) below China’s Private Data Safety Regulation for failing to adjust to cross-border information switch safety evaluation necessities and illegally transferring private data abroad. The corporate was additionally ordered to rectify the violations inside a specified time restrict.

Following the penalty, the corporate actively cooperated with regulators and absolutely applied the required corrective measures.

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