Sources close to the situation: After being warned by the authorities, “Byte Jump” has shelved its overseas listing plans

The parent company of China’s popular short-video app “Jitterbug” has put its overseas IPO plans on hold indefinitely after being warned by regulators to focus on addressing The company has been warned by regulators to focus on addressing data security risks.

People familiar with ByteBeat’s listing plans said the company had previously been considering an initial public offering (IPO) of all or part of its business in the United States or Hong Kong, but ByteBeat founder Zhang Yiming was interviewed by Chinese cybersecurity and securities regulators earlier this year. But Zhang Yiming, the founder of ByteDance, was interviewed by officials from China’s cybersecurity and securities regulators earlier this year. During the conversation, authorities asked ByteDance to focus on addressing data security risks and other issues.

Regulators are eager to understand how ByteDance collects, stores and manages data and are concerned about the company’s data security compliance, people familiar with the matter said. Given the Chinese government’s concerns, Zhang believes it is not a good time to go public, given the political and regulatory environment. ByteDance reportedly runs apps with hundreds of millions of users in China, including short-video apps Jitterbug and Today’s Headlines. Among other things, Jieyin collects personal information that may include cell phone numbers, birthdays, real names and ID numbers.

The report points out that ByteDance’s cautious approach contrasts sharply with that of online car giant Drip. “Drip has also been advised by the authorities’ cybersecurity watchdog not to list in the U.S. for fear that some of the data held by the company might fall into foreign hands. But Drip went ahead with the IPO anyway, and as a result was subject to a cybersecurity investigation by regulators. China’s State Internet Information Office recently ordered the main Drip app, as well as 25 other apps run by the company, to be taken down from China’s domestic app stores.